A New and Easy Route to Polysilanylpotassium Compounds

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

A method is presented for the synthesis of tertiary, secondary, and primary polysilylpotassium compounds. Reaction of potassium tert-butoxide, in either DME or THF, with a suitable precursor molecule, proceeds by cleavage of a trimethylsilyl− polysilanyl bond, and formation of trimethylsilyl tert-butyl ether and a polysilanylpotassium compound. This route allows easy and flexible access to a number of novel polysilanylpotassium compounds, avoiding the hitherto common use of poisonous mercury compounds.