Silyl enol ethers and related silyl ethers

This chapter focuses on related silyl ethers and silyl enol ethers. It defines silyl enol ethers as stable molecules which may be isolated, purified, and characterized using standard organic procedures. The chapter contends that they are sources of regiochemically-pure enolate ions and their equivalents, and as such, they play an important role in modern synthetic organic chemistry. The chapter then moves to explicate the formation of silyl enol ethers. It illustrates the deprotonation of an unsymmetrically substituted ketone such as 2-methylcyclohexanone, then explores the process of conjugate additions/silylation and hydrosilylation. The chapter discusses the reactions of silyl enol ethers, then elaborates on the silyl ketene acetals which are derived from ester enolates and are closely related to silyl enol ethers.