Competitive acylation of arylstyrylsilanes: Controlling silanucleophile reactivity

Electrophilic substitution reactions occurred cleanly between acyl cations and arylstyrylsilanes 2–4. With an unsubstituted aryl group, 2 underwent transfer of the styryl group to form styryl ketone 5 as would be predicted from previous kinetic studies. With increasing methyl group substitution of the aryl group, aryl group transfer occurred competitively such that 3 showed a 2:1 preference for destyrylation: dearylation giving 10:11 while 4 underwent exclusive transfer of the mesityl group to give mesityl ketones 6–8. These results are not consistent with electrophilic aromatic substitution reactions of nonsilylated compounds. With increasing methyl group substitution of the aryl group, its reactivity should increase for electronic reasons but not to the extent that it surpasses that of the styryl group. When the silyl group is flanked by methyl groups, however, cleavage of the silicon-aryl bond is additionally facilitated by the relief of steric congestion such that this process occurs preferentially to transfer of the styryl group.