Tetraphenylsilane

White solid. Very stable and inert. Combustible.

Heat-transfer medium, polymers.

Tetraphenylsilane (TPSi) can be obtained by reaction of phenylmagnesium bromide with tetrachlorosilane or by reaction of phenyllithium with alkoxysilanes.

It crystallises from *benzene as clear colorless bladed needles. It decomposes at ~360o/~760mm on attempted distillation. [George et al. J Am Chem Soc 77 6647 1955, Polis Chem Ber 98 1540 1885, Drew & Landuist J Chem Soc 1480 1935,s Beilstein 16 H 901, 16 I 525, 16 II 606, 16 III 1199, 16 IV 1372.]

[1] Furgal J, et al. Nucleophilic Attack of R-lithium at Tetrahedral Silicon in Alkoxysilanes. An Alternate Mechanism. Bulletin of the Chemical Society of Japan, 2016.