M(NMe
2)
4 (M = Ti, Zr, Hf) were found to react with H
2SiR'Ph (R' = H, Me, Ph) to yield H
2,aminosilanes, and black solids. Unusual amide hydride complexes [(Me
2N)
3M(
-H)(
-NMe
2)
2]
2M (M = Zr,
1; Hf,
2) were observed to be intermediates and characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. [(Me
2N)
3M(
-D)(
-NMe
2)
2]
2M (
1-d2,
2-d2) were prepared through reactions of M(NMe
2)
4 with D
2SiPh
2. Reactions of(Me
2N)
3ZrSi(SiMe
3)
3 (
5) with H
2SiR'Ph were found to give aminosilanes and (Me
2N)
2Zr(H)Si(SiMe
3)
3 (
6).These reactions are reversible through unusual equilibria such as (Me
2N)
3ZrSi(SiMe
3)
3 (
5) + H
2SiPh
2 (Me
2N)
2Zr(H)Si(SiMe
3)
3 (
6) + HSi(NMe
2)Ph
2. The deuteride ligand in (Me
2N)
2Zr(D)Si(SiMe
3)
3 (
6-d1)undergoes H-D exchange with H
2SiR'Ph (R' = Me, H) to give
6 and HDSiR'Ph. The reaction of Ti(NMe
2)
4with SiH
4 in chemical vapor deposition at 450
C yielded thin Ti-Si-N ternary films containing TiN andSi
3N
4. Ti(NMe
2)
4 reacts with SiH
4 at 23
C to give H
2, HSi(NMe
2)
3, and a black solid. HNMe
2 was notdetected in this reaction. The reaction mixture, upon heating, gave TiN and Si
3N
4 powders. Analyses andreactivities of the black solid revealed that it contained -H and unreacted -NMe
2 ligands but no silicon-containing ligand. Ab initio quantum chemical calculations of the reactions of Ti(NR
2)
4 (R = Me, H) withSiH
4 indicated that the formation of aminosilanes and HTi(NR
2)
3 was favored. These calculations also showedthat HTi(NH
2)
3 (
3b) reacted with SiH
4 or H
3Si-NH
2 in the following step to give H
2Ti(NH
2)
2 (
4b) andaminosilanes. The results in the current studies indicated that the role of SiH
4 in its reaction with Ti(NMe
2)
4was mainly to remove amide ligands as HSi(NMe
2)
3. The removal of amide ligands is incomplete, and thereaction thus yielded "=Ti(H)(NMe
2)" as the black solid. Subsequent heating of the black solid and HSi(NMe
2)
3 may then yield TiN and Si
3N
4, respectively, as the Ti-Si-N materials.