Reaction of Grignard Reagents with Dianionic Hexacoordinated Silicon Complexes: Organosilicon Compounds from Silica Gel

The pyrocatechol complexes 1 are the central intermediates in the synthesis of R3SiR′ (R = Et, nBu; R′ = H, Cl, SiPh3, GePh3, CH2CH = CH2) and R4Si (R = CH2CH = CH2, Ph, CC—CH3) from silica gel. Characteristic of these reactions is that they can be carried out under mild conditions and high yields are obtained.