Zinc phyllosilicates containing amino pendant groups

Two new zinc silicate hybrids were synthesized via sol-gel process from the reaction of zinc ions with trialkoxyaminesilanes in aqueous basic medium at room temperature and at 373 K. The inorganic-organic hybrids obtained, named SILZn (x=1 or 2) are related to 3-aminopropyl- and N-propylethylenediaminetrimethoxysilane, respectively. From nitrogen content, the number of pendant moles of organic groups in the matrices SILZnx (x=1 to 2) were determined as 5.14 and 3.25 mmol g⁻¹, respectively. The thermogravimetric curves showed mass losses of 50.7% and 58.0% for the same sequence of hybrids, to give the oxides as residue. X-ray diffraction patterns gave basal distances of 2065 and 2814 pm for SILZnx (x=1, 2), with well-formed particles of irregular shapes and sizes, as a characteristic of such material obtained from sol-gel process. The infrared spectra confirmed the attachment of the organic moieties on siloxane groups on the inorganic framework.