Our group has recently reported that the Ir–Si bond in iridium(III) complexes with pyridine-2-yloxy-dimethylsilyl and pyridine-2-yloxy-diisopropylsilyl ligands is in the 2.25–2.29 Å range and may be viewed as an example of a base-assisted metal–silylene bond. This shortening, suggest a base-stabilized silylene character for these Ir–Si bonds, and therefore they could be represented as 2-pyridone-stabilized iridium–silylene/silyl bonds. In this regard, we have now found that the reaction of (4-methyl-pyridin-2-iloxy) ditertbutylsilane (NSitBu-H) (1) with rhodium(I) and iridium(I) precursors allows the obtention of [M(H)(X)(κ2-NSi)(L)] (M = Rh, Ir; L = coe, PCy3, PH(tBu)2) complexes also with short M-Si (M = Rh, Ir) bond distances (Figure 1: Synthesis of M-(κ2-NSitBu) (M = Rh, Ir) complexes). The reactivity and catalytic activity of such species in silylation processes strongly depends on the metal. The aim of this work is to shed light on the nature of the metal-silicon bond in Rh- and Ir-(NSitBu) species and on the reasons behind their different chemical behavior.

Resumen del póster presentado a la XXXVIII Reunión Bienal de la Real Sociedad Española de Química, celebrada en el Palacio de Congresos de Granada, del 27 de junio al 30 de junio de 2022.

Peer reviewed