Chiral Organosilanes With Si–O Functions – From Selective Molecular Transformations to Chiral Materials

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Carsten Strohmann
• Subject Area: Inorganic Molecular Chemistry - Synthesis and Characterisation
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 500221904

The research project described here is intended to make new valuable silicon-stereogenic substances from the industrially used compound classes of silanols, siloxanes or silicones accessible and to expand the understanding of substitution reactions. The chiral accessible molecules will be used as Si-stereogenic probes to gain new insights into fundamental processes taking place at the silicon center, including hydrolysis and condensation reactions. Chiral reactive Si–O and Si–N systems will be incorporated into the construction of complex chiral structures or materials based on these mechanistic understandings. The combination of isotope labelling and chirality is a new analytical approach in silicon chemistry. Corresponding initial studies in this research field already revealed unexpected, otherwise invisible selective molecular transformations. The aim is to broaden the spectrum for selective synthesis of the diverse Si–O-functionalized materials through increased mechanistic understanding of molecular reactions on silicon.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants