The 29 Si chemical shift tensors in both symmetrically and unsymmetrically substituted disilenes have been analyzed by quantum chemical calculations. A detailed breakdown of the paramagnetic contributions to nuclear shielding into individual sum-over-states terms allows new insights into the interrelations between bonding and chemical shifts in these unsaturated compounds. While the substituent effects in symmetrically substituted systems may be understood to a large extent from the energy denominators of the perturbation expression, the very different shifts for the two silicon nuclei in unsymmetrically substituted systems are mainly due to the spatial extent and orientation of the occupied and unoccupied molecular orbitals, as sampled by the matrix elements of nuclear magnetic moments at both silicon sites. The unequal shifts may thus be understood and could serve as a diagnostic tool to distinguish between symmetrically and unsymmetrically substituted disilenes. Furthermore, unequal charge transfer and an alternating charge distribution can rationalize unexpectedly larger pyramidalization of the silyl-substituted silicon center in unsymmetrically substituted systems. † Dedicated to Professor Wolfgang Malisch on the occasion of his 60th birthday.

The highly enantiomerically enriched silyllithium compound lithiomethylphenyl(1-piperidinylmethyl)silane (4) reacts stereospecifically with chlorosilanes, but over a period of several hours slow racemization in solution at room temperature occurs, which can be suppressed by a transmetalation reaction with MgBr2(thf)4.

The (-)-sparteine-coordinated lithiosilanes (Lis)-4 and 5 crystallize as monomers with coordination numbers of 4 and 3 on lithium and represent the first structurally characterized enantiopure lithiosilanes. Both systems are also monomeric in solution with Si-Li contacts detected by 29Si-7Li couplings in the 29Si NMR spectrum (for 5 even at room temperature).

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Previous 29Si NMR spectroscopic investigations of various heteroatom-substituted silyllithium compounds revealed “unexpectedly” high silicon chemical shifts. To find explanations for these observations, the 29Si chemical shift tensors of various methoxy-, dimethylamino-, and methylthio-substituted chloro and lithiosilanes have been evaluated by quantum-chemical calculations. Substituent effects on shielding have been analyzed by IGLO-DFT calculations. Popular notions on the influence of atomic charge and substituent electronegativity on the central-atom shifts are not applicable. The combination of very electronegative and electropositive substituents leads to large deshielding contributions in heteroatom-substituted silyllithium compounds. As shown by analyses of localized molecular orbital (LMO) contributions to shielding, this is due to a coupling of bonding and antibonding orbitals with large silicon character and small energy differences. After a comparison of IGLO-LMO results and GIAO-based natural chemical shielding analyses, the LMO interpretations have been augmented further by an inspection of natural bond orbitals, to provide a consistent interpretation of the substituent effects on chemical shifts. The presented results should be transferable also to other heteroatom-substituted p-block main-group compounds.