The reaction of 1,1,4,4-tetrakis[bis(trimethylsilyl)methyl]-1,4-diisopropyltetrasila-2-yne
1 with
cis- and
trans-butenes produced
cis- and
trans-3,4-dimethyl-1,2-disilacyclobutenes
2a and
2b, respectively. The reactions proceeded in a stereospecific manner. Theoretical calculations on the reaction between
1 and 2-butenes show that the reaction proceeds via the interaction between the LUMO (
in*) of
1 and the HOMO of 2-butene, resulting in a formal [1 + 2] cycloaddition to give the silacyclopropyl-silylene intermediate, followed by its ring expansion to produce the final product. The reaction of
1 with phenylacetylene produced 1,2-disilabenzene derivative as a mixture of the two regioisomers, one of them being characterized by X-ray crystallography. The six-membered ring of 1,2-disilabenzene of
3a is almost planar with an Si-Si bond length of 2.2018(18) Å and Si-C bond lengths of 1.804(4) and 1.799(5) Å.