Trichlorosilane

Trichlorosilane is used as a reducing agent in certain chemical reactions or as a starting material for the synthesis of various organosilicon compounds. Trichlorosilane is generally used for the asymmetric hydrosilylation of olefins in the presence of palladium catalysts coordinated with chiral monodentate phosphorus ligands to generate chiral organosilanes.[1]

Trichlorosilane has been used to synthesize 11-dicyclohexylphosphino-12-phenyl-9,10-dihydro-9,10-ethenoanthracene (H-KITPHOS) via reduction of 11-dicyclohexylphosphinoyl-12-phenyl-9,10-dihydro-9,10-ethenoanthracene.[2]
Other possible applications:

• Asymmetric reduction of N-aryl ketimines in the presence of a novel

L-valine-derived catalyst to form secondary amines.[3]

• Hydrosilylation of imidazolinones to form chiral imidazolidinones in the presence of a 2,2′-bispyrrolidine based Lewis base organocatalyst.[4]
• Trichlorosilane activated with chiral N-formylproline

derivatives is an effective reagent for the reduction of imines to form
enantiomerically enriched amines.[5][6]

• Trichlorosilane reacts with dimethylformamide to form hypervalent hydridosilicates, which can reduce aldehydes to alcohols, imines to amines, and also for the reductive amination of aldehydes. [7]