Enantiodifferentiation of a silane and the analogous hydrocarbon by the dirhodium method—silane⋯dirhodium complex interaction

Chiral silane 1 was enantiodifferentiated by recording NMR spectra in the presence of the chiral dirhodium complex Rh2(II)[(R)-(+)-MTPA4] (Rh∗). This is the first report of direct chiral recognition by spectroscopic methods with this class of compounds. A comparison with the carba-analogue 2 shows that 1 is a soft Lewis-base ligand and that the Si–H hydrogen is the binding site, presumably by forming an adduct with a (3c-2e) silicon–hydrogen–rhodium contact (end-on), which exists in equilibrium with the free ligands.

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