"Front Matter". In: Organosilanes in Radical Chemistry - Index of
"Front Matter". In: Organosilanes in Radical Chemistry - Index of
"Front Matter". In: Organosilanes in Radical Chemistry - Index of
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206 Silyl <strong>Radical</strong>s <strong>in</strong> Polymers and Materials<br />
The mechanism for the photooxidation <strong>of</strong> silicon surfaces is not well understood<br />
[48,49]. An early mechanistic proposal <strong>in</strong> which O2 absorbs to silicon<br />
surface atoms and dissociates before it <strong>in</strong>serts <strong>in</strong>to Si w Si bonds seems to have<br />
been abandoned. More recently, it was suggested that surface silyl radicals (48),<br />
formed by UV irradiation <strong>of</strong> H w Si(111), react with oxygen to form a peroxyl<br />
radical (49) that can abstract a neighbour<strong>in</strong>g hydrogen to produce a new surface<br />
dangl<strong>in</strong>g bond (50) (Scheme 8.10) [48]. How the migration <strong>of</strong> oxygen <strong>in</strong>to the<br />
Si w Si backbone <strong>of</strong> the lattice occurs and how the regeneration <strong>of</strong> surface silyl<br />
radical or Si w H bond arises is not yet understood. If we keep the analogy with<br />
the oxidation <strong>of</strong> (Me3Si) 3Si w H and (Me3Si) 2MeSi w H and poly(hydrosilane)s<br />
described earlier <strong>in</strong> this chapter, the mechanism reported <strong>in</strong> Scheme 8.10 can be<br />
proposed. The peroxyl radical 49 rearranges to silyloxyl radical 51 by the oxygen<br />
<strong>in</strong>sertion step, which is found to be ca 10 4 s 1 for the analogous reaction <strong>in</strong><br />
(Me3Si) 3Si w H. The alternative neighbour<strong>in</strong>g hydrogen abstraction to give 50<br />
is expected to be much slower, for analogy with cumylperoxyl radical hydrogen<br />
abstraction from (Me3Si) 3Si w H occurr<strong>in</strong>g with a rate constant <strong>of</strong> 66 M 1 s 1 at<br />
73 8C. <strong>In</strong> turn radical 51 is expected to undergo a fast 1,2-silyl shift to give silyl<br />
radical 52, which can add to oxygen to give peroxyl radical 53 followed by oxygen<br />
<strong>in</strong>sertion to the rema<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g g(Si w Si) bond. The result<strong>in</strong>g silyloxyl radical 54 is<br />
ready to undergo 1,5 hydrogen shift to give another surface silyl radical (55).<br />
<strong>Radical</strong> 51 can also abstract neighbour<strong>in</strong>g hydrogen via a six-membered transition<br />
state from the side that already <strong>in</strong>serted an oxygen atom to give another<br />
surface silyl radical (56). The latter could add to oxygen to give 57 and cont<strong>in</strong>ue<br />
the cha<strong>in</strong>, eventually until complete oxidation <strong>of</strong> the surface.<br />
Both 1,5 hydrogen and 1,2 silyl shifts from radical 51 are expected to be very<br />
fast. The bimolecular rate constant for hydrogen abstraction from (Me3Si) 3SiH<br />
by alkoxyl radical is 1 10 8 M 1 s 1 which suggests that the <strong>in</strong>tramolecular<br />
version could be even two orders <strong>of</strong> magnitude faster. On the other hand, a rate<br />
constant > 10 8 s 1 is estimated for the 1,2 silyl shift <strong>in</strong> the oxidation <strong>of</strong><br />
(Me3Si) 3SiH. Therefore, it is likely that the preferred path will strongly depend<br />
on entropic factors determ<strong>in</strong>ed by the rigidity <strong>of</strong> the surface. It should also be<br />
noticed that the silyl radical 52 has two silyloxyl substituents and a 1,x H shift<br />
from an (Si) 3Si w H moiety is expected to be strongly exothermic. When favourable<br />
transition states are formed such 1,x H shifts should be quite fast to give 59<br />
(the silyl radical moiety is not shown). Therefore, the reaction mechanism for<br />
the surface oxidation given <strong>in</strong> Scheme 8.10 could lead to Si w OH or Si w Has<br />
term<strong>in</strong>al groups depend<strong>in</strong>g on the type <strong>of</strong> silicon surface.<br />
The oxidation <strong>of</strong> hydrogen-term<strong>in</strong>ated silicon surfaces by molecular oxygen<br />
also occurs without irradiation. Scann<strong>in</strong>g tunnell<strong>in</strong>g microscopy (STM) <strong>in</strong>vestigation<br />
shows that the exposure <strong>of</strong> H w Si(111) to O2 <strong>in</strong>duces surface modification<br />
that is assigned to the <strong>in</strong>sertion <strong>of</strong> oxygen atoms <strong>in</strong>to the Si w Si backbone<br />
[50]. However, the exposure <strong>of</strong> hydrogen-term<strong>in</strong>ated silicon surfaces either to<br />
dry molecular oxygen or to deoxygenated water gives low oxide growth rates,<br />
whereas the comb<strong>in</strong>ation <strong>of</strong> water and oxygen results <strong>in</strong> a significantly faster