Serendipitous metal-catalyzed H-H/Si-H exchange

Various metal complexes catalyze exchange between H-2 and hydrosilanes. Catalyst screening suggests that the electron deficiency of the metal center is necessary for exchange, but silane and/or hydrogen addition or sigma-bond metathesis with the M-Si and M-H bonds are not required. Kinetic measurements for the system [(ArN=)Mo(PMe3)(3)(H)(SiH2Ph)/H-2/H3SiPh] (Ar = 2,6-iPr(2)C(6)H(3)) suggest that the reaction proceeds through activation of the silanehis work was supported by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) (Discovery Grant to G. I. N.) and the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion (MICINN) (grant number CTQ2011-23156/BQU