Hybrid Disila-Crown Ethers as Hosts for Ammonium Cations: The O–Si–Si–O Linkage as an Acceptor for Hydrogen Bonding

Abstract

Host-guest chemistry was performed with disilane-bearing crown ethers and the ammonium cation. Equimolar reactions of 1,2-disila[18]crown-6 (1) or 1,2-disila-benzo[18]crown-6 (2) and NH4PF6 in dichloromethane yielded the respective compounds [NH4(1,2-disila[18]crown-6)]PF6 (3) and [NH4(1,2-disila-benzo[18]crown-6)]PF6 (4). According to X-ray crystallographic, NMR, and IR experiments, the uncommon hydrogen bonding motif O(Si)∙∙∙H could be observed and the use of cooperative effects of ethylene and disilane bridges as an effective way to incorporate guest molecules was illustrated.