Isolation of a bis(silyl)palladium complex and Si–Si bond formation on a mononuclear palladium complex

Treatment of a chelating silane 1-(dimethylsilyl)-2-silylbenzene (4) with Pd(PEt₃)₄ in the ratio of 2:1 selectively afforded a unique mononuclear palladium complex [{1,2-C₆H₄(SiMe₂)(SiH)}₂Pd(PEt₃)₂] (6), which was formed by two Si–Si coupling reactions between the SiH₂ groups and the SiMe₂ moieties from two hydrosilane ligands. Complex 6 was structurally characterized by single crystal X-ray analysis and multinuclear NMR spectroscopic studies and is one of the very few examples of cis-bis(silyl)palladium(II) complexes containing in situ formed Si–Si single bonds.