Preparation, spectroscopic characterization, and deprotonation reactions of Si(NHR)4 (R = i-Pr, t-Bu, p-tolyl) — EPR identification of persistent radicals formed by oxidation of polyimidosilicates

Treatment of Cl2Si(NH-t-Bu)2 (6a) with t-BuNH2 in boiling toluene yields trisamino(chloro)silane ClSi(NH-t-Bu)3 (7); formation of the tetraaminosilane Si(NH-t-Bu)4 is not observed. The reaction of SiCl4 with 4 equiv. of LiNHR produces the corresponding tetraaminosilanes Si(NHR)4 (2a, R = i-Pr; 2b, R = t-Bu; 2c, R = p-tol) in good yields. When the sterically demanding adamantyl derivative LiHNAd is employed, only disubstitution occurs to form Cl2Si(NHAd)2 (6b). Oxidation of the dimeric imidosilicates {Li3[Si(NR)3(NHR)]·THF}2 (3a, R = i-Pr; 3b, R = t-Bu) with 1 mol of iodine produces the persistent radicals {Li2[Si(NR)3(NHR)]·LiI·3THF}·, which, on the basis of EPR spectra, exist as SiN3Li3I cubes in solution. The spirocyclic tetraimidosilicate monoanion radical {[(THF)2Li(µ-Nnaph)2Si(µ-Nnaph)2Li(THF)2]}–· (10) is formed upon oxidation of the tetralithiated species {Li4[Si(Nnaph)4]·4Et2O} (1) and {[Li(12-crown-4)]2[(Et2O)2Li(µ-Nnaph)2Si(µ-Nnaph)2Li(Et2O)2]} (8) with iodine. The spectroscopic characterization of hexa(amino)disiloxane (t-BuNH)3SiOSi(NH-t-Bu)3 (14) formed from the reaction of Cl3SiOSiCl3 with 6 equiv. of LiNH-t-Bu is discussed. Key words: imido ligands, silicate, radicals, EPR spectra, lithium.