Octasilsesquioxane Chemistry II. Hydrosilylation Reaction of Octa(hydrido)silsesquioxane with Unsaturated Substrates and Product Properties

The hydrosilylation reaction of octa(hydrido)silsesquioxane with ω‐halo‐1‐alkenes and other unsaturated substrates allows attachment of 8 long‐chain functionalized alkyls on the cubic Si8O12 skeleton. Pt/C and H2PtCl6 have been adopted as the catalysts, the yields being 74–98% for compounds 2–9. For terminal alkenes, the hydrosilylation follows the anti‐Markonikov's rule. The morphological state of 2–9 ranges from viscous liquid to crystalline materials. The pyrolysis results indicate that 7, a material of hard spherical core and soft flexible shell, may likely act as nanometer‐size ball bearings up to more than 400 °C. The X‐ray structure of 9 reveals that the molecule is required to possess a center of symmetry crystallographically. The linear arms on 9, except for two of them, are virtually all‐trans in conformation, not counting the ω‐C‐Cl bond.