Selective homo- and cross-desilacoupling of aryl and benzyl primary silanes catalyzed by a barium complex

Under mild conditions (25 °C, 5 mol% cat.), highly selective homo- and cross-desilacoupling of aryl and benzyl primary silanes to secondary silanes was achieved by the use of the heteroleptic barium aminobenzyl complex [(Tp Ad,iPr )Ba(CH 2 C 6 H 4 NMe 2 - o )] (Tp Ad,iPr = hydrotris(3-adamantyl-5-isopropyl-pyrazolyl)borate) ( 1 ) as a catalyst. Dihydrosilanes originating from catalytic redistribution and cross-desilacoupling reactions were isolated in fine yields, which demonstrates the feasible application of the barium complex in the syntheses of secondary aryl- and benzylsilanes. The selective catalytic desilacoupling of primary arylsilanes with primary benzylsilane or arylsilanes was achieved by barium complex [(Tp Ad,iPr )Ba(CH 2 C 6 H 4 NMe 2 - o )].