It is not surprising that silicones are contained in the vast majority of new launches for personal care products. The element silicon from which they are formed is found in abundance in our Earth’s crust.
As the silicon atom reacts readily with oxygen, most of it is found as quartz, SiO2. The general term ‘silicones’ describes polymers that are formed utilising the Si-O-Si, siloxane backbone. By replacing the two oxygen atoms with organic groups, crystalline quartz is transformed into a flexible material that can remain fluid even in very long chain lengths. The Si-O-Si bond also has a greater bond angle than carbon bonds which allows for more rotational freedom. The siloxane bond is also stronger than bonds formed in carbon based polymers. Although the silicon atom has the same valence as group IV carbon, replacing carbon with silcon confers very different properties to resulting compounds. For example, compare carbon dioxide gas to silcon dioxide solid or carbon tetrachloride, a very stable fluid to tetrachloro silane which is highly reactive. The highly stable yet flexible organicinorganic bond maintains its integrity in harsh environmental and chemical conditions making silicones an ideal choice for a multitude of personal care applications.1
Manufacturing silicone
In order to make silicones one must convert silica to elemental silicon. High purity silica from sand or quartz is heated to over 1900 degrees Celsius with a carbon source (wood, charcoal and coal).
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