Recent Advances in Transition-Metal-Catalyzed Synthetic Transformations of Organosilicon Reagents

Organosilicon compounds act as a nucleophile upon activation by an appropriate base and behave in a manner similar to main-group organometallic reagents. In the last decades, structurally divergent organosilicon reagents are available and have become more employed for synthetic transformation with the aid of transition-metal complexes, because organosilicon compounds are in general superior to other organometallic compounds in view of stability, solubility, nontoxicity, and easy-handling. Particularly, cross-coupling of organosilicon reagents with organic halides or pseudohalides has been considered to be a useful tool for constructing the carbon frameworks of various target molecules such as pharmaceuticals and pi-conjugated functional materials. Perfluoroalkylsilicon compounds such as CF3SiEt3 have found use as reagents for the metal-catalyzed introduction of perfluoroalkyl groups into many substrates. In addition, functionalized organosilicon reagents are readily accessible by catalytic approach starting with appropriate hydrocarbons such as alkenes, alkynes, alkanes, and arenes. This article reviews recent advances in transition metal-catalyzed transformations of organosilicon reagents according to the type of synthetic transformation and metal catalyst.