Design and implementation of new, silicon-based, cross-coupling reactions: importance of silicon-oxygen bonds.

This Account chronicles the conceptual development, proof of principle, exploration of scope, and mechanistic investigations of a newly developed class of palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions of silicon derivatives. Under the influence of fluoride activation a myriad of oxygen-containing silicon moieties undergo mild and stereospecific cross-coupling. The diversity of methods for introduction of silicon groupings into organic molecules and the range of organic electrophiles that can be used are outlined.