Silicometallics and catalysis

Several processes of silicon substrates (such as hydrosilylation, dehydrogenative silylation and double silylation of alkenes and alkynes, silylative coupling versus cross-metathesis of vinylsilanes with alkenes, polycondensation of divinyl-substituted silicon compounds versus ADMET polymerization, dehydrocoupling of hydrosilanes and silylformylation of acetylene) by transition-metal complexes are briefly overviewed. All the reactions occur via a mechanism involving intermediates containing metal–silicon (i.e. silicometallics versus organometallics) and metal–hydrogen bonds, only occasionally accompanied (sided) by intermediates including metal–carbon bonds.