Question

chlorosilanes are very reactive in the presence of water, why? look up bond enthalpies to explain your answer. Discuss whether the reaction to form the siloxane oil is entropically favourable

Answer 1

Chlorosilanes are a group of reactive, chlorine-containing chemical compounds, related to silane and used in many chemical processes. Each such chemical has at least one silicon-chlorine bond.

All chlorosilanes react with water to produce hydrogen chloride. The remaining hydroxyl group bonds to the silicon, initially forming asilanol group (analogous to alcohol). In general, this will eventually bond to a solid oxide surface or react with another chlorosilane or silol molecule. In the latter cases, the oxygen atom forms a link between two silicon atoms, analogous to the ether linkage in organic chemicals, and identical to the bonding in silicon dioxide.