Experiences with the method of trimethylsilylation for the study of soluble silicates

It is possible to prepare organic derivatives of silicate groups in which each terminal oxygen is blocked by a trimethylsilyl group. This can provide a route for the preparation of new polymers. It can also provide information about the structure of the original silicate group, provided that this is faithfully reflected in the structure of the derivative. This will be true only if the silicate groups do not undergo any polymerisation, depolymerisation or rearrangement while the derivatives are being formed. The method has previously been successfully applied to a wide variety of silicates; this paper describes, in particular, attempts to apply it to the study of sodium silicates. An assessment is given of the difficulties involved and of the utility of the method for this type of study.