Metal-free visible-light-mediated aerobic oxidation of silanes to silanols

Oxidation of silanes into silanols using water/air has attracted considerable attention. The known methods with no exception required a metal catalyst. Herein we report the first metal-free method: 2 mol% Rose Bengal as the catalyst, air (O2) as the oxidant, water as the additive and under visible light irradiation. While this method produces various silanols in a simple, cost-effective, efficient (92%–99% yields) and scalable fashion, its reaction mechanism is very different than the reported ones associated with metal catalysis.