Bromination of octaphenylsilsesquioxane

The bromination and characterization of octaphenylsilsesquioxane is reported. The reaction is successful with a variety of methods, including microwave assisted synthesis. The analysis of the obtained product mix was carried out with a combination of high performance liquid chromatography and matrix assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS). The analysis indicates that the bromination leads to multiple bromines per octaphenylsilsesquioxane molecule with a distribution dominated by statistical odds and the reaction conditions. The results showed that the bromination is not selective and does not lead to a single defined product.