Mechanism of the addition of nonenolizable aldehydes and ketones to (di)metallenes (R(sub 2)X=YR(sub 2), X=Si, Ge Y=C, Si, Ge): a density functional and multiconfigurational perturbation theory study

The addition of formaldehyde to silene, disilene, germene, digermene, and germasilene in an effort to provide fundamental knowledge of the mechanistic pathway for the addition of nonenolizable aldehydes and ketones to (di)metallenes, is examined. The calculations reveal that when Ge-O bond forms during the addition, a diradical pathway is not available, whereas when a Si-O bond forms during the addition, both diradical and zwitterionic pathways are found.