'Tamed' Silylium Ions: Versatile in Catalysis

摘要

Whoever coined the name for the element silicon assuredly did not have in mind the highly reactive silylium ions when it was named after the omnipresent pebble (Latin silex or silicis). Silylium ions are increasingly finding their way into practice, because of their high reactivity (Lewis acidity) and the possibility of reactivity design. It is, therefore, certainly correct to say that silylium ions have long shed their status as laboratory curiosities, and in practice have justifyingly arrived at the interface of classical inorganic and organic chemistry. Starting from a contribution from the Muller research group, in which a new, elegant synthetic route to triarylsilylium ions and their use in hydrogen activation is described, we will discuss in this Highlight the potential of silylium ions.