ELECTROCHEMICAL BEHAVIORS OF CYCLOPOLYSILANES. OXIDATION POTENTIALS VIA CYCLIC VOLTAMMETRY

The anodic peak potentials for a series of cyclopolysilanes, [R1R2Si]n (n=3–7), lowered with decreasing ring size and were found to be parallel to the lowest transition energies determined by the UV absorptions. In the anodic oxidation these cyclopolysilanes undergo the initial one electron transfer reaction to give a cation radical which leads to the formation of an acyclic α,ω-radical cation followed by the second electron transfer to give the corresponding di-cation.