Ruthenium-catalyzed silylation of 1,3-butadienes with vinylsilanes.

A novel method for the synthesis of 1-silyl-substituted 1,3-butadienes, based on [RuHCl(CO)(PCy3)2]-catalyzed silylative coupling of terminal (E)-1,3-dienes with vinylsilanes, is reported. The reaction provides a facile and straightforward access to (E,E)-dienylsilanes in a highly stereoselective fashion (especially for aryl-substituted dienes) and opens a valuable and general synthetic route for the direct catalytic silylation of conjugated dienes with elimination of ethylene as a single byproduct. Preliminary results on synthetic application of the synthesized silylated 1,3-butadienes in desilylation reactions are described.