An Electroreductive Approach to Radical Silylation via the Activation of Strong Si–Cl Bond

The construction of C­(sp3)–Si bonds is important
in synthetic, medicinal, and materials chemistry. In this context,
reactions mediated by silyl radicals have become increasingly attractive
but methods for accessing these intermediates remain limited. We present
a new strategy for silyl radical generation via electroreduction of
readily available chlorosilanes. At highly biased potentials, electrochemistry
grants access to silyl radicals through energetically uphill reductive
cleavage of strong Si–Cl bonds. This strategy proved to be
general in various alkene silylation reactions including disilylation,
hydrosilylation, and allylic silylation under simple and transition-metal-free
conditions.