Silyl radicals and methylsilyl radicals formed by Hg (63Pi)-photosensitized decomposition of silane and methylsilane, respectively, react efficiently with nitric oxide to produce siloxanes and nitrous oxide as the principal products. The reaction is a chain reaction at room temperature which, from the evidence at hand, is proposed to involve SiH80(SiH20)" and CH3SiH20(CH3SiH0)" radicals, in = 0,1, 2, .. .), as well as the primary radicals SiH8 and CH3SiH2.It has previously been reported from this laboratory that, when nitric oxide at low concentration is employed at room temperature as a scavenger of methyl radicals, trimethylhydroxylamine is the stable product of the radical-scavenging process and is formed by the successive addition of methyl radicals to nitric oxide.2•8 Recent studies of the mercury-photosensitized decomposition of monosilane4•5 have suggested that the formation of the predominant silicon-containing product, disilane, may occur via the combination of silyl radicals, viz. SiH3 + SiH3 -> Si2He(1) and, in this respect, at least, may resemble mechanistically the analogous ethane formation in systems containing methyl radicals. However, despite this sim-