Ethyl orthosilicate synthesis

Starting in the 1950s a process was developed that leads from small-molecule silicon alkoxides such as tetraethoxysilane (tetraethyl orthosilicate), to organosiloxane oligomers and low polymers, and eventually to silica via a low temperature synthesis route.14 24 A simplified outline of the basic chemistry is shown in reactions (l)-(4), where R is an ethyl or higher alkyl unit. Any or all of the Si-OR bonds can be... 

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