Fast and efficient method for Silylation of alcohols and phenols with HMDS in the presence of bis-thiourea complexes of cobalt, nickel, copper and zinc chlorides

Bis-thiourea complexes of cobalt, nickel, copper and zinc chlorides were used efficiently for rapid and efficient trimethylsilylation of alcohols and phenols with hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS) in CH₃CN. All reactions were carried out at room temperature within immediate-120 min timeframe to afford trimethylsilyl ether derivatives in high to excellent yields. Investigation of the results exhibited that the prepared bis-thiourea metal complexes show the activity as Co(tu)₂Cl₂> Ni(tu)₂Cl₂> Cu(tu)₂Cl₂> Zn(tu)₂Cl₂ in their silylation reactions.