The first Si-H-containing azasilaheterocycle, 1,3-dimethyl-3-silapiperidine 1, was synthesized, and its molecular structure and conformational properties were studied by gas-phase electron diffraction (GED), low temperature NMR, IR and Raman spectroscopy and quantum chemical calculations. The compound exists as a mixture of two conformers possessing the chair conformation with the equatorial NMe group and differing by axial or equatorial position of the SiMe group. In the gas phase, the SiMe(ax) conformer predominates (GED: ax/eq = 65(7):35(7)%, ΔG = 0.36(18) kcal/mol; IR: ax/eq = 62(5):38(5)%, ΔG = 0.16(7) kcal/mol). In solution, at 143 K the SiMe(eq) conformer predominates in the frozen equilibrium (NMR: ax/eq = 31.5(1.5):68.5(1.5)%, ΔG = -0.22(2) kcal/mol). Thermodynamic parameters of the ring inversion are determined (ΔG(‡) = 8.9-9.0 kcal/mol, ΔH(‡) = 9.6 kcal/mol, ΔS(‡) = 2.1 eu). High-level quantum chemical calculations (MP2, G2, CCSD(T)) nicely reproduce the experimental geometry and the predominance of the axial conformer in the gas phase.

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3-Methyl-3-silatetrahydropyran 1 was synthesized and its molecular structure and conformational behavior was studied by gas-phase electron diffraction (GED), FTIR, low temperature (1)H and (13)C NMR spectroscopy, and by theoretical calculations (DFT, MP2). Two conformers, 1-ax and 1-eq, were located on the potential energy surface. In the gas phase, a slight predominance of the axial conformer was determined, with the ratio 1-ax:1-eq = 54(9):46(9) (from GED) or 53:47 or 61:39 (from IR). In solution, LT NMR spectroscopy at 103 K gives the ratio 1-ax:1-eq = 35:65 (-ΔG°103 = 0.13 kcal/mol). Simulation of solvent effects using the PCM continuum model or by calculation of the corresponding solvent-solute complexes allowed us to rationalize the experimentally observed opposite conformational predominance of the conformers of 3-methyl-3-silatetrahydropyran in the gas phase and in solution. Comparative analysis of the effect of heteroatom in 1-hetero-3-methyl-3-silacyclohexanes on the structure, stereoelectronic interactions, and relative energies of the conformers is done.