Dehydrocoupling reactions of amines with silanes catalyzed by [(Et2N)3U][BPh4]

Dehydrocoupling reactions of primary amines RNH2 with PhSiH3 were catalyzed by [(Et2N)3U][BPh4] to give the corresponding aminosilanes PhSiH3−n(NHR)n (n=1–3), the relative yields of the products were found to be dependent on the experimental conditions and on the nature of R. For a primary silane (PhSiH3), the reactivity of RNH2 follows the order primary>secondary>tertiary. Similar dehydrocoupling reactions using secondary amines with secondary silanes were found to be less reactive. Homodehydrocoupling of the silane was found not to be a competing reaction at room temperature. The hydride [(RNH)2UH][BPh4], which is plausibly formed in the reaction of [(RNH)3U][BPh4] with PhSiH3 is a likely intermediate in the catalytic cycle.