Deoxygenative reduction of organometallic compounds by hydrosilanes - An organometallic approach to catalytic CO hydrogenation

Abstract

Reduction of organometallic compounds by hydrosilanes (HnSiR4-n) is studied. Because the H-Si bond in hydrosilanes shows reactivity similar to the H-H bond and, in addition to this feature, the Si part may display Lewis acidic property to activate oxygen-containing functional groups, it is expected that hydrosilanes can reduce oxygen-containing intermediates. As a result of our study, successful reproduction of elementary steps of catalytic CO hydrogenation (e.g. the carbon-chain propagation step of the Pichler-Schulz mechanism, methanation via the Fischer-Tropsch mechanism) is realized on discrete transition metal complexes.