Silaketene: A product of the reaction between silylene and carbon monoxide?

Molecular structures and vibrational frequencies for silaketene, H2SiCO, are predicted using ab initio techniques. A weakly bound nonplanar structure is found to be the equilibrium geometry, whereas the ketene-like planar structure is the transition state for inversion between the two equivalent nonplanar conformations. The barrier to inversion about the silicon atom is 18 kcal/mol. The ab initio heat of reaction of SiH2 and CO to form H2SiCO is 16 kcal/mol. The results are discussed in light of recent matrix isolation experiments attempting to make and detect dimethylsilaketene.