Electrochemical Deoxygenative Silylation of Alcohols

Alcohols are highly common organic compounds but remain scarce as alkyl donors in synthetic procedures. Here, we describe an electrochemical procedure for their deoxygenative cross-electrophile coupling with hydrosilanes, furnishing organosilane products in good to excellent yields. Mechanistic studies provide insights into the operating pathways of this semi-paired electrolytic transformation, suggesting that silyl ethers are likely reaction intermediates. Furthermore, a unified mechanistic proposal is presented that accounts for observed reactivity differences compared to analogous deoxygenative electrocarboxylation.