Silanes

In organosilicon chemistry, silanes are a diverse class of charge-neutral organic compounds with the general formula SiR₄. The R substituents can be any combination of organic^[1] or inorganic groups.^[2] Most silanes contain Si-C bonds, and are discussed under organosilicon compounds. Some contain Si-H bonds and are discussed under hydrosilanes.

• Silane SiH
  ₄, the parent.
• Binary silicon-hydrogen compounds (which are sometimes called silanes also) includes silane itself but also compounds with Si-Si bonds including disilane and longer chains.
• Silanes with one, two, three, or four Si-H bonds are called hydrosilanes. Silane is again the parent member. Examples: triethylsilane (HSi(C
  ₂H
  ₅)
  ₃) and triethoxysilane (HSi(OC
  ₂H
  ₅)
  ₃).
• Polysilanes are organosilicon compounds with the formula (R
  ₂Si)
  _n. They feature Si-Si bonds. Attracting more interest are the organic derivatives such as polydimethylsilane ((CH
  ₃)
  ₂Si)
  _n. Dodecamethylcyclohexasilane ((CH
  ₃)
  ₂Si)
  ₆ is an oligomer of such materials. Formally speaking, polysilanes also include compounds of the type (SiH₂)n, but these less studied.
• Carbosilanes are polymeric silanes with alternating Si-C bonds.
• Chlorosilanes have Si-Cl bonds. The dominant examples come from the Direct process, i.e., (CH₃)_4-xSiCl_x. Another important member is trichlorosilane (SiHCl
  ₃).
• Organosilanes are a class of charge-neutral organosilicon compounds. Example: tetramethylsilane (Si(CH
  ₃)
  ₄)

By tradition, compounds with Si-O-Si bonds are usually not referred to as silanes. Instead, they are called siloxanes. One example is hexamethyldisiloxane, ((CH
₃)
₃Si)
₂O.

See compound-specific applications. Commonly:

• Polysilicone production
• PEX crosslinking agent

• Silane quats
• Silanide – Anionic molecule derived from silane
• Silenes – Silicon compounds with an Si=Si bond