Microwave-assisted organic functionalization of silica surfaces: Effect of selectively heating silylating agents

Microwave (MW)-assisted (2.45 GHz) organic functionalization of silica surfaces was investigated using (3-chloropropyl)dimethylsilanes with alkoxy, allyl, or aryl leaving groups in heptane or toluene at 80 °C. 29Si and 13C CP/MAS spectroscopy confirmed the 3-chloropropyldimethylsilyl moiety was covalently grafted onto silica for all the samples. The effect of MW irradiation on the loading amount strongly depended on the leaving group as well as the solvent; using methoxysilane and p-anisylsilane in heptane caused a distinct acceleration. The correlation with the dielectric loss factors of the silylating agents suggested that the MW acceleration effect resulted from selectively heating the strongly MW-absorbing silylating agent. For the grafting reaction in toluene, the MW effect was not observed possibly because toluene masked the selective heating effect of the silylating agent.