Synthesis and coordination ability of a partially silicon based crown ether.

The first hybrid crown ether with two adjacent disilane fragments was synthesized through reaction of O(Si2 Me4 Cl)2 (3) with O(C2 H4 OH)2 . By means of DFT calculations, the complexation ability of 1,2,4,5-tetrasila[12]crown-4 (7) towards Li+ was determined to be considerably higher compared to [12]crown-4.