A mixture of
cis- and
trans-1,2-dimethyl-1,2-diphenyl-1,2-disilacyclohexane (
1a and
1b)was prepared by the reaction of 1,4-bis(chloromethylphenylsilyl)butane with lithium metalin the presence of a catalytic amount of dimethylphenylsilyllithium in THF. The photolysisof pure
1a in the presence of isobutene afforded
cis-2,3-benzo-1-isobutyl-1,4-dimethyl-4-phenyl-1,4-disilacyclooct-2-ene (
2a) in 63% yield, in addition to a small amount of a formal[2 + 2] cycloadduct (
3a) with
cis-configuration, arising from addition of the rearranged silenewith isobutene. Similar photolysis of
1b with isobutene gave a
trans-adduct (
3b) formed byformal [2 + 2] cycloaddition of the rearranged silene arising from
1b to isobutene as themain product, together with a small amount of
trans-2,3-benzo-1-isobutyl-1,4-dimethyl-4-phenyl-1,4-disilacyclooct-2-ene (
2b). The structure of the [2 + 2] cycloadduct
3b, was verifiedby X-ray crystallography. The thermolyses of
3a and
3b at 150
C for 24 h produced
2a and
2b, respectively, in quantitative yields.