Silylenes

A Generic One-Pot Route to Acyclic Two-Coordinate Silylenes from Silicon(IV) Precursors: Synthesis and Structural Characterization of a Silylsilylene (pages 568–571)
Dr. Andrey V. Protchenko, Dr. Andrew D. Schwarz, Matthew P. Blake, Prof. Cameron Jones, Prof. Nikolas Kaltsoyannis, Prof. Philip Mountford and Prof. Simon Aldridge
Article first published online: 20 NOV 2012 | DOI: 10.1002/anie.201208554


This is an important discovery -- while stable cyclic silylenes are known, this report describes the first stable acyclic silylene.  Molecules like this are likely going to be useful for surface functionalization of all things silicon.