Synthesis of Polysilanes by the Wurtz Reductive-Coupling Reaction

Silicon chemistry does not permit the ready synthesis of stable precursors to polysilanes that enable easy and controllable polymerisation reactions like those found in carbon chemistry. Thus, despite a continuing search for alternative synthetic procedures, such as those described in the following Chapter, most polysilanes, like poly(diphenylsilane) which was first prepared more than 75 years ago by Kipping [1,2], have been synthesised by the condensation of the corresponding dichlorodiorganosilane using dispersed alkali metal, usually sodium, i.e. using the Wurtz-type reductive dehalogenation reaction shown in Scheme 1 [3].