Investigation of Polymerization and Cyclization of Dimethyldiethoxysilane by 29Si NMR and FTIR

Dimethyldiethoxysilane (DMDES) appears to be a very promising modifier to introduce functional groups to a silicate network. The polymerization and cyclization of DMDES under acid-catalyzed conditions (DMDES : Ethanol : water : HCl = 1:4:4:3.68 × 10−4 in molar ratio) were investigated by high resolution liquid 29Si nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR). Time-dependent NMR and FTIR data illustrate that monomers of (CH3)2Si(OC2H5)2, (CH3)2Si(OC2H5)(OH), and (CH3)2Si(OH)2 reach meta-equilibrium in less than 4 minutes. 3-membered rings ((CH3)2SiO)3 appear about half an hour later and 4-membered rings ((CH3)2SiO)4 an hour later, which continue to be formed over 24 hours. The relative concentrations of monomers, linear structures and cyclic structures suggest a modified model for the kinetics of cyclization, where 4-membered rings are formed by dimer-dimer interactions, as opposed to monomer-trimer interactions previously proposed.