(TRIMETHOXYSILYL)CARBENE - PHOTOCHEMISTRY, OXIDATION, AND CARBONYLATION OF A SILYLCARBENE

Photolysis (lambda > 345 nm) of matrix-isolated (trimethoxysilyl)diazo methane (le) leads to the formation of (trimethoxysilyl)carbene (2e), which was characterized by IR and UV-vis spectroscopy. The photochemis try, reaction with molecular oxygen, and carbonylation of 2e were stud ied in argon matrices at cryogenic temperatures. These experiments dem onstrate that 2e is a triplet ground state carbene. Photolysis at 280 nm results in the formation of 1,1-dimethoxy-1,2-silaoxetane by insert ion of the carbene center into one of the adjacent methyl groups.