Solubilization of silica: Synthesis, characterization and study of penta-coordinated pyridine N-oxide silicon complexes

IIn an effort to design agents that could solubilize silica in water, under ambient conditions and pH, as takes place in nature, novel zwitterionic, penta-oxo-coordinated silicon compounds with siliconate cores have been prepared from 4-substituted pyridine N-oxides (H, OMe, morpholino, NO2) as donor ligands, their structures established by 1H, 13C and MS, and the coordination number of silicon, by 29Si NMR. The formation of complexes from pyridine N-oxides is noteworthy since they arise from interaction with a weakly nucleophilic oxygen centre. The ability of the pyridine N-oxides to enhance the solubilization of silica in water has been experimentally demonstrated. Possible rationalization of this observation on the basis of O right arrow Si coordination via the oxygen atom of pyridine N-oxide is suggested.