Taylor Huie Rose Hills
Dehydrohalogenation as a novel route to ruthenium silylenes
The development of new transition metal silylenes (materials with a double bond between silicon and a transition metal, M=Si) are highly important, postulated to be highly reactive intermediates in critical reactions such as the Rochow-Muller direct process, which produces Me2SiCl2 an essential compound for the silicones industry. Isolable examples of silylenes have previously displayed remarkably diverse reactivity in small-molecule activation and unlocked a completely new mechanism for catalytic hydrosilylation. Despite these advances, further discoveries in silylene chemistry are hampered by difficulty of synthesis and the low number of methodologies available for formation.
This project seeks to investigate novel synthetic routes to ruthenium silylene complexes through a dehydrohalogenation mechanism. I will be exploring the dehydrohalogenation of a ruthenium silyl featuring three bridging hydrides, a terminal silicon-chloride, and an [SiP3Ph] ligand ([SiP3Ph]=PhSi(CH2PPh2)3). This research aims to increase the synthetic accessibility of silylene complexes while simultaneously discovering underlying principles that govern their formation.
Message To Sponsor
Thank you for your generous support of my summer research project! Your contribution enables me to explore my deep interest in transition metal chemistry and I am extremely grateful for your support. I am excited to learn more about silylenes and contribute to the field of organometallics.