Nitrogen ligand complexes of metal chlorides as effective catalysts for the highly regio- and chemoselective silylation of hydroxyl groups with hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS) at room temperature

Abstract

Zn(bipy)3Cl2, Fe(bipy)Cl3, and Fe(tpp)Cl are effective catalysts for silylation of hydroxy groups with HMDS at room temperature in dry CH3CN. High selectivity is observed between primary and secondary hydroxy functional groups. This method absolutely discriminates ether functional groups containing labile hydrogen atoms.