Silicans form Locally Available Silicate Minerals

Abstract

Samples of mineral silicates were collected and analysed to establish their composition. Trimethylsilylation of these mineral silicates was studied in different experimental conditions to give the optimum yield of trimethylsilylated silicates. It has been found that muscovite and phlogopite give 25% yield of silylated product respectively. Sodium silicate undergoes silylation to give 99% trimethylsilylated product which can be industrially exploited. Silylated products of all the silicates studied do not react either with Grignards reagent or with methyl-lithium to give methylpolysiloxanes. Sio2 has been found to react with catechol under certain reaction conditions to yield hexaco-ordinated complexes which has been characterized by UV, IR spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric and differential thermal analyses. These complexes seem to have potential to exploit them for the conversion of Sio2 into solar grade silicon and industrially useful material such as polysiloxanes.