Reaction of silicon with alcohols in autoclave

A reaction of activated silicon with alcohols in an autoclave at 240-270 A degrees C was studied. It was found that primary alcohols form tetraalkoxysilanes Si(OR)(4) with high selectivity (up to 97%), while the secondary (PrOH)-O-i gave a mixture of compounds HSi(OPri)(3), Si(OPri)(4), HSi(OPri)(2)OSi(OPri)(2)H, HSi(OPri)(2)OSi(OPri)(3), and Si(OPri)(3)OSi(OPri)(3) with the predominance of trialkoxysilane (up to 67%). Carrying out the reaction under the indicated conditions has the advantage of experimental simplicity, reagent availability, high conversion of silicon, good isolated yields of products.