Efficient CO2 Insertion and Reduction Catalyzed by a Terminal Zinc Hydride Complex

The terminal zinc hydride complex [Tntm]ZnH ( 2 ; Tntm=tris(6‐tert‐butyl‐3‐thiopyridazinyl)methanide) is an efficient hydrosilylation catalyst of CO₂ at room temperature without the need of Lewis acidic additives. The inherent electrophilicity of the system leads to selective formation of the monosilylated product (MeO)₃SiO₂CH (at room temperature with a TOF of 22.2 h^?1 and at 45 °C with a TOF of 66.7 h^?1). In absence of silanes, the intermediate formate complex [Tntm]Zn(O₂CH) ( 3 ) is quantitatively formed within 5 min. All complexes were fully characterized by ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy and single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction analyses. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal a high positive charge on zinc and the increased preference of the ligand to adopt a κ³‐coordination mode.