Methyl substituent effects on the dissociation energies of SiX bonds

Empirical expressions are obtained for bond dissociation energies (BDEs) of alkylsilanes and their derivatives. It is pointed out that the sensitivity of the BDEs of SiX bonds to methyl substitution depends on the electronegativity of the substituent X. When X is an atom or group with low or moderate electronegativity, the SiX BDE is insensitive to methyl substitution, but when X is a halogen atom or OH, the SiX BDEs increase with increasing methyl substitution.