An Efficient Preparation of Hexamethyldisilane

Abstract

The striking reactivity conferred by silicon on organic molecules of widely diverse structural type has prompted considerable interest during the last decade in methods for the generation of silicon-carbon bonds and the subsequent transformations of the resultant organosilicon compounds. The highly nucleophilic silyl anions seem particularly suited to serve as precursors to these organosilicon compounds, although, in some cases, they have been postulated to react as one-electron transfer reagents.¹ Although silyl anions have been known for some time², only recently have efficient in situ methods been devised for the preparation of trimethylsilyllithium³, -sodium⁴ and -potassium⁵ from hexamethyldisilane (1) and methyllithium, sodium methoxide and potassium methoxide, respectively. These trimethylsilyl anions undergo reaction