This paper mainly describes the development, synthesis and applications of silicon-based Lewis acids R₃SiX [X＝I, OTf, NTf₂, C(C₆F₅)Tf₂, etc.] and (R₃SiX＋ML_n). They were principally used to catalyze aldol, allylation, Diels-Alder, ene and Friedel-Crafts reactions. SLAs were used in 0.5～20 mol%, and the yields of the catalyzed reactions varied from moderate to excellent with the different reactivity of silicon-based Lewis acids. The order of the reactivities is R₃SiNTf₂＞R₃SiOTf, (R₃SiX＋ML_n)＞R₃SiX. The development and applications of chiral SLAs are also reviewed. When chiral trialkylsilyl bis(perfluoromethanesulfonyl)imides were used as catalysts for Diels-Alder reaction of cyclopentadiene and methyl acrylate, ee value of the reaction was up to 54%.

Key words: application, development, synthesis, (chiral) silicon-based Lewis acid