Kinetics of insertion reactions of dimethylsilylene

Abstract

Dimethylsilylene, generated by photolysis of dodecamethylcyclohexasilane, inserts into the silicon–hydrogen bond in trimethylsilane and pentamethyldisilane with approximately zero activation energy, while insertion into hydrogen chloride requires an activation energy of 28 kJ mol^–1; the results for silicon–hydrogen insertion shed some light on the mechanism of the thermolysis of pentamethyldisilane.