Platinum nanoparticles in suspension are as efficient as Karstedt's complex for alkene hydrosilylation

Colloidal suspensions of monodisperse platinum nanoparticles of 2 nm diameter have been used to catalyze the hydrosilylation of 1-octene with a polymethylhydrosiloxane. The nanoparticles were found to be as efficient as Karstedt's complex, showing that colloid formation from homogeneous species during hydrosilylation reactions is not necessarily a deactivation pathway. These results also reactivated the debate on whether Karstedt's complex was truly homogeneous or colloidal during catalysis.