Rhodium-catalyzed enantioselective intramolecular C-H silylation for the syntheses of planar-chiral metallocene siloles.

Reported herein is the rhodium-catalyzed enantioselective C-H bond silylation of the cyclopentadiene rings in Fe and Ru metallocenes. Thus, in the presence of (S)-TMS-Segphos, the reactions took place under very mild conditions to afford metallocene-fused siloles in good to excellent yields and with ee values of up to 97%. During this study it was observed that the steric hindrance of chiral ligands had a profound influence on the reactivity and enantioselectivity of the reaction, and might hold the key to accomplishing conventionally challenging asymmetric C-H silylations.