Reactions of Hydrosilanes with Transition Metal Complexes and Characterization of the Products

Reactions of hydrosilanes with transition metal complexes and characterization of the products are investigated. The actual end product obtained in the reaction of a hydrosilane with a transition metal complex will obviously depend on the nature of the metal as well as the remaining substituents on the metal and on silicon. The most common ligands present in the metal complexes that are reacted with hydrosilanes are 2-electron bases such as a carbonyl, phosphine, chloride, hydride, or an organic group. The majority of the precursor complexes that involve loss of phosphine from the initial starting material come from the cobalt and nickel triads. The use of carbonyl complexes in reactions with silanes is not as extensive as those for the phosphine complexes described in the previous section. The majority of the cases tend to be found in the Cr and Mn triads, where loss of CO precedes reaction with the hydrosilane.