Mg-promoted reductive coupling of aromatic carbonyl compounds with trimethylsilyl chloride and bis(chlorodimethylsilyl) compounds

Mg-promoted reductive coupling of aromatic carbonyl compounds (1) with chlorosilanes, such as trimethylsilyl chloride (TMSCl:2), 1,2-bis(chlorodimethylsilyl)ethane (3) and 1,5-dichlorohexamethyltrisiloxane (4), in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) at room temperature brought about selective and facile reductive formation of both of carbon-silicon and oxygen-silicon bonds to give the corresponding α-trimethylsilylalkyl trimethylsilyl ethers (5) and cyclic siloxanes (6), (7) in moderate to good yields, respectively. The present facile and selective coupling may be initiated through electron transfer from Mg metal to aromatic carbonyl compounds (1).