Unusual Reactivity of Group 14 Hydrides toward Organic Halides: Synthetic Studies and Application to Functional Materials

Extensive investigation of functional organosilicon and organogermanium compounds has identified various valuable applications in organic chemistry and advanced materials. This review summarizes the major developments of metal-mediated coupling reactions between group 14 hydrides and organic halides during the last decade with an emphasis on our own studies. High reactivity and selectivity have been achieved for C-Si and C-Ge bond formations under mild conditions. This transformation shows good functional group compatibility, and can serve as a powerful tool for the synthesis of medicinal, pharmaceutical, agrochemical, electrical, and photoluminescent compounds. Ground- and excited-state properties of fluorescence materials have been investigated by DFT and TD-DFT calculations, and several important aspects of the experimental observations have been validated. Direct functionalization of H-terminated Si and Ge surfaces has been demonstrated utilizing Pd-mediated arylation reactions, illustrating the potential for further development of the Pd-catalyzed reactions for the organic modification of semiconductor surfaces.