Reaction Mechanisms of Nucleophilic Attack at Silicon

1 Introduction 2 Direct Substitution of a Leaving Group by a Nucleophile 3 Nucleophile-Catalysed Substitution at Silicon and Racemization Keywords: nucleophilic attack at silicon - reaction mechanisms; stereochemistry of substitution; substrate structure effect; kinetics of substitution; geometry of intermediate/transition state; nucleophile-catalysed substitution at silicon and racemization; direct substitution of leaving group by nucleophile; pentacoordinate silicon species pseudorotation