Selective syntheses
of symmetrical siloxanes and cyclotetrasiloxanes
are attained from reactions of silanes and dihydrosilanes, respectively,
with water, and the reactions are catalyzed by a NNNHtBu cobalt(II) pincer complex. Interestingly, when
phenylsilane was subjected to catalysis with water, a siloxane cage
consisting 12 silicon and 18 oxygen centers was obtained and remarkably
the reaction proceeded with liberation of 3 equiv of molecular hydrogen
(36 H2) under mild experimental conditions. Upon reaction
of silane with different silanols, highly selective and controlled
syntheses of higher order monohydrosiloxanes and disiloxymonohydrosilanes
were achieved by cobalt catalysis. The liberated molecular hydrogen
is the only byproduct observed in all of these transformations. Mechanistic
studies indicated that the reactions occur via a homogeneous pathway.
Kinetic and independent experiments confirmed the catalytic oxidation
of silane to silanol, and further dehydrocoupling processes are involved
in syntheses of symmetrical siloxanes, cyclotetrasiloxanes, and siloxane
cage compounds, whereas the unsymmetrical monohydrosiloxane syntheses
from silanes and silanols proceeded via dehydrogenative coupling reactions.
Overall these cobalt-catalyzed oxidative coupling reactions are based
on the Si–H, Si–OH, and O–H bond activation of
silane, silanol, and water, respectively. Catalytic cycles consisting
of Co(II) intermediates are suggested to be operative.