Abstract: | The silylation of the surface of sodium borosilicate glass was investigated under conditions that might be applied to the fabrication of ion-selective microelectrodes of the liquid membrane type such as are used in physiology, Silylation was carried out for 15 min at different temperatures and with six different silanes. The hydrophobicity was measured and found to be greatest with reaction temperatures of 200–350°, the effectiveness of the different silylating agents being in the (increasing) order: trimethylchlorosilane, tributylchlorosilane, (dimethylamino)trimethylsilane, hexamethyldisilazane, dimethyldichlorosilane, bis(dimethylamino)dimethylsilane. The results give evidence of a catalytic effect of basic amine groups and show that the reactivity of the surface of freshly drawn glass is increased by acid leaching. |