A novel route to chlorodimethylsilane

Abstract

A new efficient laboratory method of preparation of chlorodimethylsilane (Cl(CH3)2SiH) has been elaborated, which is a modification of the Eaborn et al. method (34) and is based on a transsilylation reaction of substituted (amino)dimethylhydrosilanes, R2NSiMe2H (R2 = Me2, Et2, (CH2)n, etc.) with dimethyldichlorosilane (Me2SiCl2). The reaction proceeds at reflux, at 70°C, preferably with an excess of Me2SiCl2. The most important feature of this novel method is a recovery of intermediate (amino)chlorodimethylsilanes (R2NSiMe2Cl), which can be again reduced to R2NSiMe2H. The transsilylation mechanism has been proven by reaction of (diethylamino)methylphenylsilane with Me2SiCl2. The products of this latter reaction are HMePhSiCl and R2NSiMe2Cl, thus a disproportionation mechanism has been excluded. New substituted bis(amino)dimethylsilanes ((R2N)2SiMe2), (amino)dimethylchlorosilanes (R2NSiMe2Cl), and (amino)dimethylhydrosilanes (R2NSiMe2H) have been synthesized and characterized by NMR and IR.Key words: chlorodimethylsilane, (CH3)2SiHCl, synthesis, new laboratory method, transsilylation mechanism.