Hydride compounds with silicon and germanium core atoms and method of synthesizing same

A method of synthesizing a compound (H3Ge)4-xSiHx, wherein x is equal to 0, 1, or 2, the method comprising:

• combining HxSi(triflate)4-x with KGeH3 under conditions whereby (H3Ge)4-xSiHx is formed according to the equation:
• HxSi(triflate)4-x+4-xKGeH3→(H3Ge)4-xSiHx+4-xK(triflate).

A method of synthesizing a compound (H3Ge)2SiH2, the method comprising:

• combining H3GeSiH2(OSO2CF3) with KGeH3 under conditions whereby (H3Ge)2SiH2 is formed according to the equation:
• H3GeSiH2(OSO2CF3)+KGeH3→(H3Ge)2—SiH2+KOSO2CF3.

A method of synthesizing a silicon-germanium hydride from a starting germyl compound comprising a germyl group and a reagent element to achieve about a 30% yield of the silicon-germanium hydride on the basis of the starting compound, the method comprising:

• adding liquid H2Si(triflate)2 to a slurry of the starting germyl compound and dry solvent in a reaction chamber at about −40 to 0° C. to form a mixture;
• stirring the mixture at about 22° C.;
• and distilling the mixture to form the silicon-germanium hydride which is about 30% of the yield on the basis of the starting germyl compound.