The catalytic activity in the hydrosilylation of terminal alkynes by the unsaturated hydrido iridium(III) compound [IrH(κ-hqca)(coe)] (1), which contains the rigid asymmetrical dianionic ONO pincer ligand 8-oxidoquinoline-2-carboxylate, has been studied. A range of aliphatic and aromatic 1-alkynes has been efficiently reduced using various hydrosilanes. Hydrosilylation of the linear 1-alkynes hex-1-yne and oct-1-yne gives a good selectivity toward the β-(Z)-vinylsilane product, while for the bulkier t-Bu-C≡CH a reverse selectivity toward the β-(E)-vinylsilane and significant amounts of alkene, from a competitive dehydrogenative silylation, has been observed. Compound 1, unreactive toward silanes, reacts with a range of terminal alkynes RC≡CH, affording the unsaturated η-alkenyl complexes [Ir(κ-hqca)(E-CH=CHR)(coe)] in good yield. These species are able to coordinate monodentate neutral ligands such as PPh and pyridine, or CO in a reversible way, to yield octahedral derivatives. Further mechanistic aspects of the hydrosilylation process have been studied by DFT calculations. The catalytic cycle passes through Ir(III) species with an iridacyclopropene (η-vinylsilane) complex as the key intermediate. It has been found that this species may lead both to the dehydrogenative silylation products, via a β-elimination process, and to a hydrosilylation cycle. The β-elimination path has a higher activation energy than hydrosilylation. On the other hand, the selectivity to the vinylsilane hydrosilylation products can be accounted for by the different activation energies involved in the attack of a silane molecule at two different faces of the iridacyclopropene ring to give η-vinylsilane complexes with either an E or Z configuration. Finally, proton transfer from a η-silane to a η-vinylsilane ligand results in the formation of the corresponding β-(Z)- and β-(E)-vinylsilane isomers, respectively.

Financial support from the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO/FEDER) of Spain (Project CTQ2013-42532-P) and Diputación General de Aragón (DGA/FSE E07) is gratefully acknowledged. R.P.-O. acknowledges her fellowship from the MINECO (BES-2011-045364).

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