Volatilization of dimethylsilanediol (DMSD) under environmentally relevant conditions: Sampling method and impact of water and soil materials

Dimethylsilanediol (DMSD) is the common breakdown product of methylsiloxanes such as polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and volatile methylsiloxanes (VMS) in soil. In this work, we first present a sorbent selection experiment aiming to identify a sorbent that can trap gas-phase DMSD without causing DMSD condensation and VMS hydrolysis at environmentally relevant humidities. With a proper sorbent (Tenax) identified, the volatilization of DMSD from water and various wet soil and soil materials were measured in a controlled environment. It was demonstrated that DMSD underwent volatilization after soil water was completely evaporated. Various types of soil constituents show drastic differences in preventing DMSD from volatilization. Analysis of the sorbent-captured products provides further insight, most notably that virtually no cyclic methylsiloxanes are formed during the volatilization of DMSD from water or soil materials, except in one extreme case where only traces are detected.