Organosilanes
have become a mainstay in organic synthesis as they
can participate in a wide number of reactions where they act as a
soft carbon nucleophile. They can engage in coupling reactions where
C–C, C–N, C–O, or a variety of other bonds are
formed. Furthermore, organosilanes are effective coupling partners
in C–H activations. Despite their utility, synthesis of organosilanes
typically relies on precious metals such as platinum and palladium.
In the past several years, there has been considerable effort to develop
new procedures, which rely on inexpensive catalysts such as first-row
transition metals. More specifically, copper-catalyzed silylations
have undergone significant development in the past decade. Copper-catalyzed
silylations generally rely on either a silylborane, silylzinc, or
disilane as the silicon source. However, a number of different transformations
can be performed with this small set of reagents including conjugate
addition, addition to alkynes, allenes, and carbonyls, coupling reactions,
and substitutions. Nearly all of these transformations exhibit high
levels of diastereoselectivity, regioselectivity, or enantioselectivity,
depending on the transformation. Moreover, there is still plenty of
room for further development of copper-catalyzed silylations, which
should provide an inexpensive alternative to more traditional silylations.