Herein, we report on the first sila-aldol reaction, which emphasizes the tight connection between silicon and carbon chemistry.T his novel synthetic method provides straightforwarda ccess to 2-oxahexasilabicyclo[3.2.1]octan-8ide,astructurally complex silicon framework, in quantitative yield. Its structure was confirmed by NMR spectroscopya nd X-ray crystallography,a nd it displays ad istinctive chargetransfer transition. The complete mechanism of this highly selective rearrangement cascade is outlined and supported by density functional theory (DFT) calculations,w hich highlight the thermodynamic driving force and the low activation barriers of this powerful silicon-carbon bond-forming strategy.The classical aldol reaction, and in particular its power in the reversible formation and cleavage of carbon-carbon bonds,is one of the most important biosynthetic tools for the evolution of life on earth. [1] On the basis of this general strategy,namely the merging of two carbonyl compounds,s ynthetic chemists have put al ot of emphasis on stereoselective aldol reactions over the last couple of centuries to accomplish results comparable to those achieved by organisms and enzymes in nature. [2][3][4][5] These synthetic approaches include,f or example, the use of organocatalysts (amine-based systems), [4,6] chiral auxiliaries (Evans oxazolidinone route), [7] as well as chiral Lewis acids (e.g., Zn, Ag, Pd, and Cu complexes) [4,5,8] and bases. [9] Forsilicon-based compounds,however, such siliconcarbon bond-forming reactions have not been reported, although they must be considered as ap owerful alternative to standard coupling techniques,s uch as the Wurtz reaction and related methods, [10] hydrosilylation, [11] as well as transition-metal-catalyzed silicon-carbon coupling reactions. [12] Consequently,w es et out to explore the applicability of the sila-aldol reaction as an ovel synthetic method for the synthesis of complex silicon-carbon frameworks.B ased on this sila-aldol strategy,w hich induced an anionic rearrangement cascade,w ea chieved the selective formation of 2-oxahexasilabicyclo[3.2.1]octan-8-ide 1 (Scheme 1).We considered the intramolecular sila-aldol reaction as an optimal starting point for the development of this trans-formation as it should be entropically favored and employs highly symmetric starting materials.H owever,t he synthesis and isolation of such compounds,f or example, a,w-bis-(acyl)silanes,were previously not possible.Given our ongoing interest in the formation of cyclic acylsilanes, [13] we were now able to accomplish the synthesis of 1,4-bis-(acyl)cyclohexasilane 2 by reacting 1,4-dipotassium-1,4-bis-(trimethylsilyl)cyclohexasilane (3) [14] with two equivalents of mesitoyl chloride (MesCOCl) in diethyl ether (Et 2 O) at À78 8 8C. This reaction resulted in the clean formation of airstable and crystalline 1,4-bis(mesitoyl)cyclohexasilane (2)a s a1 :1 mixture of the trans and cis isomers in 72 %y ield (Scheme 2), an optimal and highly promising precursor molecule for our subsequent studies.T he ...