Facile preparation of silyl azides with dipolar aprotic solvents

Abstract The reaction of sodium azide with chlorosilanes in hexamethylphosphoric triamide or dimethylformamide at room temperature affords a high yield preparation of silyl azides, e.g. Me 3 SiN 3 ,Me 2 Si(N 3 ) 2 , PhMeSi(N 3 ) 2 and Ph 2 Si(N 3 ) 2 . For characterization, the azides may be converted to silyphosphiimies, R 3 Si-N=PPh 3 .