Silanes

In organosilicon chemistry, silanes are a diverse class of charge-neutral organic compounds with the general formula SiR4. The R substituents can any combination of organic or inorganic groups. Most silanes contain Si-C bonds, and are discussed under organosilicon compounds. Some contain Si-H bonds and are discussed under hydrosilanes.

Examples

 * Silane, the parent.
 * Binary silicon-hydrogen compounds (which are sometimes called silanes also) includes silane itself but also compounds with Si-Si bonds including disilane and longer chains.
 * Silanes with one, two, three, or four Si-H bonds are called hydrosilanes. Silane is again the parent member. Examples: triethylsilane and triethoxysilane.
 * Polysilanes are organosilicon compounds with the formula . They feature Si-Si bonds. Attracting more interest are the organic derivatives such as polydimethylsilane . Dodecamethylcyclohexasilane is an oligomer of such materials. Formally speaking, polysilanes also include compounds of the type (SiH2)n, but these less studied.
 * Carbosilanes are polymeric silanes with alternating Si-C bonds.
 * Chlorosilanes have Si-Cl bonds. The dominant examples come from the Direct process, i.e., (CH3)4-xSiClx. Another important member is trichlorosilane.
 * Organosilanes are a class of charge-neutral organosilicon compounds. Example: tetramethylsilane

By tradition, compounds with Si-O-Si bonds are usually not referred to as silanes. Instead, they are called siloxanes. One example is hexamethyldisiloxane,.

Applications
See compound-specific applications. Commonly:
 * Polysilicone production
 * PEX crosslinking agent