SYNTHESIS OF PROPERTIES OF TRANSITION-MET AL COMPLEXES COORDINATED WITH LOW-VALENT SILICON AND GERMANIUM

Transition-metal complexes containing low-valent silicon and germanium ligands have attracted much attention because of their unique bonding modes as well as their possible intermediacy in various transformatio n reactions of organosilicon and -germanium compounds mediated by tran sition metals. This article describes (1) some reactions involving sil ylene and germylene complexes, in particular the fast intramolecular s crambling of substituents on the silicon atoms in silyl(silylene)iron complexes, and (2) the synthesis, structures, and properties of some n ew types of such complexes; namely, donor-stabilized bis(silylene), (s ilylene)(germylene), and bis(germylene) complexes.