Categories: O-Si Bond Formation >
Synthesis of silyl ethers
Name Reactions
Protecting Groups
Recent Literature

A commercially available proazaphosphatrane is an
efficient and mild catalyst for the silylation of a wide variety of alcohols and
phenols, including acid-sensitive, base-sensitive, and hindered substrates,
using tert-butyldimethylsilyl chloride (TBDMSCl). The reactions are
carried out in acetonitrile from 24 to 40°C and on rare occasions in DMF
from 24 to 80°C. Although representative primary alcohols, secondary
alcohols, and phenols were silylated using the more sterically hindered
reagent tert-butyldiphenylsilyl chloride (TBDPSCl), tertiary alcohols
were recovered unchanged.
B. A. D'Sa, J. G. Verkade, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1996, 118, 12832-12833.

Reactions of alcohols with silyl chlorides in the presence of N-methylimidazole
were significantly accelerated by addition of iodine. A general and high
yielding method for efficient silylation of primary, secondary, and tertiary
alcohols was developed.
A. Bartoszewicz, M. Kalek, J. Nilsson, R. Hiresova, J. Stawinski, Synlett, 2008,
37-40.

Tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane, B(C6F5)3,
is an effective catalyst for a mild and efficient dehydrogenative silation of
alcohols using a variety of silanes. Only the most bulky silanes (Bn3SiH
and iPr3SiH) were not reactive under these conditions.
Generally, the reactions are clean and high yielding, with dihydrogen as the
only byproduct.
J. M. Blackwell, K. L. Foster, V. H. Beck, W. E. Piers, J. Org. Chem., 1999, 64, 4887-4892.

Two methods are described for the regioselective displacement of the primary
hydroxy group in methyl glycosides with iodide. Products of the first method
employing triphenylphosphine and iodine need purification on a reverse phase
column. A one-pot procedure via sulfonates and subsequent substitution with
iodide and methods for the protection of the iodoglycosides are also
described.
P. R. Skaanderup, C. S. Poulsen, L. Hyldtoft, M. R. Jørgensen, R. Madsen, Synthesis, 2002, 1721-1727.

A one-pot alkylation-silylation reaction of various epoxides with R3Al-R'3SiOTf
occurs stereospecifically to give the corresponding alkylation-silylation
products in excellent yields.
P. Shanmugam, M. Miyashita, Org. Lett., 2003, 3265-3268.

A key intermediate in a highly efficient rhodium-catalyzed O-silylation of
alcohols is chlorosilane, generated from vinylsilane and HCl, which is
regenerated in the catalytic cycle. Various alcohols and vinylsilanes were
applied to the preparation of silyl ethers with this catalyst system.
J.-W. Park, C.-H. Jun, Org. Lett., 2007,
9, 4073-4076.

A new procedure for catalytic reductive coupling of aldehydes and alkynes
uses Ni(COD)2 with an imidazolium carbene ligand as the catalyst and
triethylsilane as the reducing agent.
G. M. Mahandru, G. Liu, J. Montgomery, J. Am. Chem. Soc.,
2004, 126, 3698-3699.

The rhenium-catalyzed hydrosilation of aldehydes and ketones under ambient
temperature and atmosphere gave protected alcohol as silyl ether in good
yields. The mechanism is discussed.
E. A. Ison, E. R. Trivedi, R. A. Corbin, M. M. Abu-Omar, J. Am. Chem. Soc.,
2005, 127, 15374-15375.

Optimizations to generate CuH in situ have led to an efficient and inexpensive hydrosilylation method for dialkyl ketones.
B. H. Lipshutz, C. C. Caires, P. Kuipers, W. Chrisman, Org. Lett., 2003, 5, 3085-3088.

Aliphatic carboxyl derivatives (acids, acyl chlorides, esters) and aldehydes were efficiently reduced to the methyl group by HSiEt3 in the presence of catalytic amounts of B(C6F5)3. Aromatic carboxylic acids, as well as other carbonyl functional equivalents, underwent smooth partial reduction to the corresponding TES-protected benzylic alcohols in competition with a Friedel-Crafts-like alkylation decreasing the overall selectivity of the reduction process.
V. Gevorgyan, M. Rubin, J.-X. Liu, Y. Yamamoto, J. Org. Chem, 2000, 66, 1672-1675.

A β-amino alcohol-Ti(Oi-Pr)4 complex efficiently catalyzes
a mild, enantioselective cyanosilylation of aldehydes. Aromatic, conjugated, heteroaromatic, and aliphatic aldehydes were
converted to their corresponding cyanohydrin trimethylsilyl ethers in excellent yields with
high enantioselectivities.
Y. Li, B. He, B. Qin, X. Feng, G. Zhang, J. Org. Chem., 2004, 69, 7910-7913.

Combinations
of N-oxides and Ti(OiPr)4 act as bifunctional
catalysts in the cyanosilylation of ketones. The reaction is promoted by the
dual action of these new titanium complexes via activation of the ketone by the
titanium and of TMSCN by the N-oxide.
Y. Shen,
X. Feng, Y. Li, G. Zhang, Y. Jiang, Tetrahedron, 2003, 59,
5667-6675.
