A General and Selective Synthesis of Methylmonochlorosilanes from Di-, Tri-, and Tetrachlorosilanes

Direct catalytic transformation of chlorosilanes into organosilicon compounds remains challenging due to difficulty in cleaving the strong Si-Cl bond(s). We herein report the palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reaction of chlorosilanes with organoaluminum reagents. A combination of [Pd(C H )Cl] and DavePhos ligand catalyzed the selective methylation of various dichlorosilanes , trichlorosilanes , and tetrachlorosilane to give the corresponding monochlorosilanes.