Transition‐Metal‐Free C−H Silylation: An Emerging Strategy

Silicon‐containing molecules are of great interest with widespread applications in several research areas such as polymer chemistry, materials science, medicinal chemistry, and complex molecule synthesis. Transition‐metal‐free C−H silylation is an essential process because this process is useful in fabricating carbon‐silicon bonds which can be further transformed into a number of other compounds. Since transition‐metal‐catalyzed C−H bond silylation is a developed field, therefore this context only contains transition‐metal‐free pathways for transforming C−H bond to C−Si (Si=SiR3) bond. This review has been further categorized and subcategorized based on intermediates involved and catalysts used during this transformation. This synopsis summarizes recent developments in the area of silicon chemistry with a focus of innovative transition‐metal‐free catalytic silylation using different strategies such as free radical, base promoted, Brønsted acid, Lewis acid, and frustrated Lewis pair.