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Updated: Jul 19, 2026

Preparation of Silica Nanoparticles Through Microwave-assisted Acid-catalysis
Published on: December 16, 2013
The ozonation of silanes and germanes: an experimental and theoretical investigation
Janez Cerkovnik1, Tell Tuttle, Elfi Kraka
1Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, University of Ljubljana, P.O. Box 537, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Abstract:
Ozonation of various silanes and germanes produced the corresponding hydrotrioxides, R3SiOOOH and R3GeOOOH, which were characterized by 1H, 13C, 17O, and 29Si NMR, and by infrared spectroscopy in a two-pronged approach based on measured and calculated data. Ozone reacts with the E-H (E = Si, Ge) bond via a concerted 1,3-dipolar insertion mechanism, where, depending on the substituents and the environment (e.g., acetone-d6 solution), the H atom transfer precedes more and more E-O bond formation. The hydrotrioxides decompose in various solvents into the corresponding silanols/germanols, disiloxanes/digermoxanes, singlet oxygen (O2(1delta(g))), and dihydrogen trioxide (HOOOH), where catalytic amounts of water play an important role as is indicated by quantum chemical calculations. The formation of HOOOH as a decomposition product of organometallic hydrotrioxides in acetone-d6 represents a new and convenient method for the preparation of this simple, biochemically important polyoxide. By solvent variation, singlet oxygen (O2(1delta(g))) can be generated in high yield.
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