Method for producing aryl-functional silanes

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 HaSiX(4-a), where each X is independently a halogen atom, and 0<a<1;
• and optionally (II) H2, 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 HaSiX(4-a) and optionally (II) additional H2;
• 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).