Electroreductive Synthesis of Polysilanes with Ordered Sequences

In contrast to the growing interest with the polysilane, the method of preparation hitherto known is highly limited. So far, the almost only practical method is the condensation of organodichlorosilane with alkali metal (Wurtz type condensation). This method, however, requires drastic reaction conditions and hence, is very much limited in the type of substituent that is allowed to be located on the monomer. Although several modified or alternative methods such as sonochemical coupling of dichlorosilane promoted by alkali metal [9-11], transition metal catalyzed reaction of hydrosilane [12, 13], anionic polymerization of masked disilene [14, 15], and ring opening polymerization of cyclic organosilane [16, 17] have been proposed, they are not always extensively effective as preparative methods.