Ar. Bassindale et Te. Gentle, SILOXANE AND HYDROCARBON OCTOPUS MOLECULES WITH SILSESQUIOXANE CORES, Journal of materials chemistry, 3(12), 1993, pp. 1319-1325
Hydrogen silsesquioxane, (HSiO3/2)8, T8, has been synthesized and isol
ated in synthetically useful quantities. The T8 cage-like structure al
lows eight pendant groups to be placed symmetrically about the surface
of a sphere to form an 'octopus' molecule. Using T8 to hydrosilylate
compounds with the formula CH2=CH(X)(n)Y, octopus molecules of the for
mula (SiO3/2)8(CH2CH2(X)nY), have been synthesized, including octopus
molecules with organic 'arms' as well as those with silicone 'arms' of
various lengths. The regioselectivity of addition in the above two ca
ses was found to differ. The synthesis of these novel octapus molecule
s and their characterisation by Si-29 NMR, FTIR, and gel-permeation ch
romatography (GPC) is described.