Mechanistically, this reaction is thought to proceed along a similar pathway to that determined for the aluminium imide systems to generate an intermediate similar to Int3 (Scheme 5), at which point the silyl group migrates from N to O. The difference in reactivity between these aluminium and gallium systems is presumably related to the greater migratory aptitude of the SiPh3 group compared to the Si t BuPh2 and Si i Pr3 groups, and potentially the greater electronegativity of gallium over aluminium.