OXIDATION OF DISILENES - EXPERIMENTAL AND THEORETICAL-STUDIES

The oxidation of E-1,2-di-tert-butyl-1,2-dimesityl disilene (1) in benzene by gaseous dioxygen to give 2 and 3 has been studied at various temperatures and with rapid or slow addition of oxygen. The effect of various additives (amines, phosphines, THF) on the product distribution was also investigated. Ab initio MO calculations were carried out on the oxidation of H2Si=SiH2 with triplet oxygen. These led to a proposed reaction mechanism for the oxidation of 1, in which the initial intermediate is a disileneperoxy biradical 6', which can close to give 2 or react with another molecule of disilene to give ultimately 3.