Highly selective oxidation of organosilanes with a reusable nanoporous silver catalyst

Abstract Room temperature highly selective oxidation of organosilanes to organosilanols and organosilyl ethers is achieved in liquid-phase with dealloyed nanoporous silver catalysts. In both cases, aromatic and aliphatic silanes can be effectively converted into the corresponding silanols and silyl ethers by using water and alcohols as oxidant, respectively. Moreover, hydrogen gas is the only by-product and the catalyst can be recycled for several times without evident loss of activity and selectivity.