Practical Procedures for Hydrosilylation of Ketones and Silane-induced Ring-opening Polymerization of Cyclic Ethers by Prior Activation of the Cluster Catalyst by Hydrosilanes : Improved Synthetic Procedures and Mechanistic Implication on the Catalytically Active Species

Pre-activation of (μ_2,η^2:η^3:η^5-acenaphthylene)Ru_3(CO)_7 (1) by hydrosilanes in a small amount of dioxane provides novel convenient and useful procedures for hydrosilylation of carbonyl compounds and silane-induced ring-opening polymerization of cyclic ethers and a cyclic siloxane. The initial step of the catalytic cycle was investigated by NMR detection of products formed by the oxidative addition ofhydrosilanes to 1. A possibility for the involvement of cluster species in the catalytic cycle is discussed