Title: Efforts Towards the Synthesis of Silanes for Their Use in Catalysis and as Molecular Wires
Description: The Leighton group has long been interested in developing strained silanes for their use in polyketide synthesis. Recently, our interests have led us to develop a new type of silicon Lewis acid and catalyst with high levels of reactivity. Upon activation with a thiourea, a stabilized silylium ion is formed allowing for the facile allylation of aldehydes and ketones, in addition to Diels-Alder catalysis. This represents one of the first examples of the merger between anion-binding catalysis and silylium ion catalysis. Our group’s interest in strained silanes has also led us to investigate their conductance properties in molecular break junctions. To further understand the nature of the bond-ruptured species we have proposed new synthetic targets and have described herein our progress towards synthesizing these targets.