A stable silanone with a three-coordinate silicon atom: a century-long wait is over.

Mission accomplished: More than 100 years after first attempts at isolating a stable silanone, this task has finally been completed with the isolation of a metallosilanone complex. The elusive bare Si=O bond was made accessible by utilizing the coordination sphere of an electron-rich chromium fragment in combination with a sterically demanding saturated N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) to protect the reactive site.