Method for producing aryl-functional silanes

1. A method for preparing a reaction product comprising an aryl-functional silane comprises sequential steps (1) and (2), where:

step (1) is contacting, under silicon deposition conditions

(A) an ingredient comprising (I) a halosilane of formula H a SiX (4-a) , where each X is independently a halogen atom, and 0<a<1; and optionally (II) H 2 , with the proviso that when a=0, then the hydrogen is present; and

(B) a metal combination comprising copper and at least one other metal, where the at least one other metal is selected from the group consisting of cobalt, chromium, iron, manganese, nickel, palladium, and silver; thereby forming a silicon alloy catalyst comprising silicon, copper and the at least one other metal; and

step (2) is contacting the silicon alloy catalyst and (C) a reactant comprising an aryl halide under silicon etching conditions; thereby forming the reaction product, where the reaction product comprises the aryl-functional silane and a spent catalyst;

where the method may optionally further comprise step (3) and step (4), where

step (3) is contacting, under silicon deposition conditions, an additional ingredient comprising (I) an additional halosilane of formula H a SiX (4-a) and optionally (II) additional H 2 ; thereby re-forming the silicon alloy catalyst, and

step (4) is contacting the silicon alloy catalyst re-formed in step (3) with an additional reactant comprising an additional aryl halide; thereby forming an additional amount of the reaction product, where the reaction product comprises the aryl-functional silane and the spent catalyst; and

where the method, when further comprising steps (3) and (4), optionally further comprises step (5), where step (5) is repeating steps (3) and (4) at least one time; and

where the method optionally further comprises step (6), where step (6) is recovering the aryl-functional silane after step (2), and/or when present, step (4), and/or step (5).

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising one or more additional steps, where the one or more steps are selected from:

purging and/or treating the metal combination, before contacting the metal combination with the ingredient comprising the halosilane in step (1); and/or

purging and/or treating the silicon alloy catalyst, before contacting the silicon alloy catalyst with the reactant comprising the aryl halide in step (2); and/or

purging and/or treating, the spent reactant before contacting the spent reactant with the additional ingredient in step (3); and/or

purging and/or treating the reactant re-formed in step (3), before contacting the reactant re-formed in step (3) with the additional reactant in step (4); and/or

purging and/or treating the additional spent reactant.

3. The method of claim 1 , where a mole ratio of the H 2 to the halosilane ranges from 20:1 to 1:1.

4. The method of claim 1 , where the at least one other metal comprises palladium.

5. The method of claim 1 , where the at least one other metal comprises nickel.

6. The method of claim 5 , where the at least one other metal further comprises palladium.

7. The method of claim 1 , where the at least one other metal comprises iron.

8. The method of claim 7 , where the at least one other metal comprises palladium.

9. The method of claim 1 , where one of conditions (A) to (D) is satisfied:

(A) the at least one other metal comprises silver, or

(B) the at least one other metal comprises cobalt, or

(C) the at least one other metal comprises chromium, or

(D) the at least one other metal comprises manganese.

10. The method of claim 1 , where the metal combination is provided on a support.

11. The method of claim 1 , where step (1) is performed at a first temperature from 500° C. to 1000° C., and step (2) is performed at a second temperature from 100° C. to 600° C., with the proviso that the second temperature is lower than the first temperature.

12. The method of claim 1 , where the halosilane (I) is silicon tetrachloride.

13. The method of claim 1 , where the aryl halide is chlorobenzene.

14. The method of claim 1 , where the aryl functional silane comprises one or more of PhSiCl 3 , Ph 2 SiCl 2 , and PhHSiCl 2 .

15. The method of claim 1 , where step (2) is performed in the absence of hydrogen.