Breaking Carbon-Chlorine Bonds with the Unconventional Lewis Acid Dodecachlorocyclohexasilane.

c-Si6Cl12 functions as a Lewis acid strong enough to abstract chloride ions from 2 mol of triphenylchloromethane to form the salt [Tr+]2[Si6Cl142-]. This is the first example of a Lewis acid "hole" breaking a carbon-halogen bond.