From elusive thio- and selenosilanoic acids to copper(I) complexes with intermolecular Si=E → Cu-O-Si coordination modes (E = S, Se).

The facile synthesis of the first stable selenosilanoic acid-base adduct LSi(=Se)OH(dmap) 3 (L = CH[C(Me)NAr]2, Ar = 2,6-iPr2C6H3, dmap = 4-dimethylaminopyridine), the heavier analogue of the thiosilanoic acid adduct LSi(=S)OH(dmap) 1, is reported. Both adducts 1 and 3 react readily with MesCu (Mes = 2,4,6-trimethylphenyl) to form the novel dimeric Cu(I) complexes [LSi(=E)OCu]2 (4: E = S; 5: E = Se) with unprecedented intermolecular Si=E → Cu-O-Si coordination modes. The latter are efficient pre-catalysts for the Cu(I)-mediated aziridination of styrene with PhI=N(Ts) (Ts = tosyl).