Grignard Reagents as Simple Precatalysts for the Dehydrocoupling of Amines and Silanes

Methyl magnesium bromide is a precatalyst for the dehydrocoupling of silanes and amines to produce aminosilane products under mild conditions. As a commercially available Grignard reagent, this precatalyst represents a simplification over previous magnesium-containing catalysts for Si-N bond formation while displaying similar activity to other magnesium-based catalysts. This observation is consistent with the hypothesis that competitive Schlenk equilibrium can be addressed by not using an ancillary ligand. While the activity of MeMgBr is lower than some reported catalysts, including other commercially available precatalysts, unique selectivity was observed for MeMgBr that may allow for directed synthesis of aminosilane products. This work continues to increase the accessibility of Si-N heterodehydrocoupling through a growing family of commercially available precatalysts that balance activity and selectivity.