Synthesis of Hydrogenated Thiol-Silanes for Selective Reactions

The intention of this experiment is to show the creation of multifunctional thiols from the reaction between various hydrochlorosilanes and mercaptoethanol in an attempt to utilize their distinct properties for practical applications. Multifunctional thiols have many useful applications including use in high-refractive-index lenses, 1 heavy metal chelation, 2 and degradable plastics3. Previous work, 5 in our lab has explored a class of reactions key to the synthesis of these compounds: the reaction between methylated chlorosilanes with mercaptoalcohols. We extended this reaction to include hydrogenated chlorosilanes. This allows us to produce multifunctional thiols with an additional functionalizable position at the hydrogen, allowing for greater flexibility in regards to practical applications. This functionalizable position allows the substituted chlorosilanes to undergo further reactivity with the possibility of forming more complex polymers and other important molecules with more widespread applications. The seemingly simple addition of the hydrogen to the chlorosilane led to unexpected results that differed significantly from those found with the reactions of the previously shown methylchlorosilanes