Disilenyl Anions Derived from Reduction of Tetrakis(di-tert-butylmethylsilyl)disilene with Metal Naphthalenide through a Disilene Dianion Intermediate: Synthesis and Characterization
Tetrakis(di-tert-butylmethylsilyl)disilene (3) was treated with 2 equiv. of metal naphthalenide (M = Li, Na, and K) in THF to give the disilenyl anion by elimination of one t Bu 2 MeSi group, through the intermediate formation of a disilene dianion upon two-electron reduction. The red crystals of sp 2 -type silyl anions were isolated as the corresponding alkali metal derivatives, which were characterized by NMR spectra and X-ray crystallography.