Hydrosilylation of Alkenes and Their Derivatives

Hydrosilylation of C═C bonds as a most versatile synthetic route to formation of Si—C bond initiated by free-radicals has been well-known for 60 years, while that catalysed by platinum (starting from Speier catalyst) and other TM complexes – for 50 years. Chapter 1 presents a comprehensive survey of literature on hydrosilylation of alkenes and their derivatives by molecular compounds containing Si—H bond, published in the last two decades. Dehydrogenative silylation, related to the above process, is also discussed. New hydrosilylation catalysts, predominantly homogeneous and immobilised late and early TM-complexes have been developed but also nucleophilic-electrophilic catalysts, metals and supported metals as well as radical initiators have been cited. These catalysts offer many convenient synthetic routes to molecular organosilicon reagents characterised by increased efficiency i.e. the yield and selectivity as well as turnover rate. The choice of catalyst determines the mechanism of catalysis, whose rational development for individual catalytic systems is extensively discussed.