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Chemistry Forums for Students => Undergraduate General Chemistry Forum => Topic started by: Meter on April 14, 2021, 01:29:24 PM

Title: Deactivating SiO2 and Lux-Flood acids
Post by: Meter on April 14, 2021, 01:29:24 PM

During a recent column separation, I had to deactivate my silica gel phase by adding a small amount of triethylamine. My instructor said this is because our product is sensitive to acids. I looked it up and SiO₂ is a Lux-Flood acid, which seems to be a fairly old acid-base definition where O^2- is the accepting/donating species.

How exactly does triethylamine deactivate SiO₂ this way? My instructor even postulated that SiO₂ is actually a Brønsted acid, which is complete nonsense, right?