Hydrosilylation reaction of olefins: recent advances and perspectives

This review covers the recent advances in hydrosilylation chemistry mainly published in the last decade. Hydrosilylation of olefins is an important reaction for the production of various organosilicon compounds such as industrially important silicone products. Although the utility of platinum catalysts, Speier's and Karstedt's catalysts, has been widely recognized in this field for decades, development of more efficient, selective, and cheaper catalyst systems are still desired for more economical production of organosilicon materials having superior properties. In these contexts, much progress has been made in recent years. In the platinum catalysis systems, continuous progress has been made to further improve selectivity and activity. Several non-precious metal catalysts, such as Fe and Ni catalysts, with good efficiency and selectivity have been developed. Furthermore, unique chemo-and regioselectivity have been achieved not only by precious metal catalysts but also by non-precious metal catalysts. The utility of non-transition metal catalysts including early main group metals, Lewis acidic alane, borane and phosphonium salts as well as N-heterocyclic carbenes has also been disclosed.