Chemists in the 1940s noticed the potential of organosilanes for modifying surfaces. Back then, industries pressed for better water repellents and adhesives. In the decades that followed, researchers focused on trialkoxysilanes, driven by work on better sealants and coatings. N-Hexadecyltriethoxysilane drew attention because of its long hydrocarbon chain and the hydrophobic boost it gave materials, particularly glass and ceramics. In university labs and manufacturing plants, the reach of silane chemistry stretched further into electronics, biotechnology, and even art conservation, showing how a single molecule's evolution can track along with innovations across different sectors.
N-Hexadecyltriethoxysilane serves as a surface modifier and coupling agent, adding hydrophobic and low-surface-energy features to what it touches. It has a sixteen-carbon alkyl chain attached to a silicon atom, along with three ethoxy groups. This unique structure lets it act as a bridge, firmly holding onto inorganic surfaces while pushing away water and sticky particles. Chemists have turned to this compound for sol-gel chemistry, self-assembled monolayers, and functional coatings. As a result, its reputation stands strong in both high-tech research and straightforward manufacturing.
In my own hands, N-Hexadecyltriethoxysilane has shown up as a clear, slightly yellow liquid, sometimes heavier to pour than expected for a molecule its size. It smells faintly from the ethoxy groups, especially if exposed outside the bottle. The high molecular weight gives it a viscosity near that of light oils. Its boiling point floats above 350°C, and it has low solubility in water. Put it in alcohol or toluene, and it dissolves easily. The compound hydrolyzes in humid air or water, letting it stick covalently to surfaces and release ethanol in the process. Its chemical stability wanes if kept in moist environments, so storage in dry containers pays dividends. Under most lab conditions, this molecule avoids extremes: non-flammable and low in volatility.
Manufacturers ship N-Hexadecyltriethoxysilane with clear labels: purity above 95%, color index, specific gravity (about 0.88 at 25°C), refractive index (1.430-1.438 at 25°C), and water content below 0.5%. Every bottle comes with lot numbers for traceability. Information like chemical structure diagrams, UN shipping codes, and hazard pictograms ensure responsible use and handling. The documentation covers everything from recommended shelf life (usually a year in sealed drums) to best practices for transferring the viscous liquid between containers. Many technical data sheets review spectral analyses, confirming purity using NMR, IR, and GC-MS methods. Consistent labeling cuts mistakes in both research and industry.
Industry prepares N-Hexadecyltriethoxysilane by reacting hexadecyl chloride with triethoxysilane in the presence of catalysts. The reaction uses dry, oxygen-free conditions to stop early hydrolysis or oxidation of sensitive groups. Afterward, distillation removes side products and leaves the pure compound behind. Depending on the plant, steps may shift in scale or complexity, but the core process centers on careful exclusion of water, controlled temperatures, and steady mixing of reactants. Some labs even swap out triethoxysilane for analogous silanes, but most settle on this route for commercial supply. Each batch undergoes quality testing to check for residual chloride, ensuring the final product stays free of corrosive agents or contaminants.
In practical use, N-Hexadecyltriethoxysilane acts as a linker—its ethoxy groups react with hydroxyls on glass, metals, or oxides. Add enough water and a splash of acid, and it hydrolyzes, forming silanols. Once these attach to a solid’s surface, the compound orients its long hydrocarbon chain outward, making the surface repel water and most organic soils. I’ve watched students tweak this basic reaction, adding fluorescent or biotin groups to the alkyl tail, creating specialized surfaces for diagnostics or bioassays. Downstream modifications include partial hydrolysis for sol-gel formation, or combining it with other silanes to adjust how sticky or slippery a material feels. Joint research projects with material scientists often explore what happens under extreme pH, UV exposure, or high temperature, defining limitations where the siloxane bonds eventually break down.
Catalogs display a dozen names, ranging from n-Hexadecyltriethoxysilane to Triethoxy(hexadecyl)silane, or just C16-Triethoxysilane. The IUPAC name tells the whole story, but industry uses trade names and numbers instead. Suppliers like Gelest, Sigma-Aldrich, and Momentive sell it in volumes from small vials for the research bench to drums for industrial application. Customers see product codes, batch identifiers, and hazard statements side by side—making selection much easier for first-time lab users.
Direct contact with N-Hexadecyltriethoxysilane poses some risk. Lab personnel wear gloves and use fume hoods when measuring liquids. Splashes can irritate skin or eyes, and inhaling vapors can cause coughing. I’ve known coworkers who grew overconfident working with silanes, only to find glove degradation after long exposure. Material safety data sheets highlight storage in dry, cool places and warn against mixing with acids or bases unless done intentionally in a reaction vessel. Regular fire drills and proper ventilation pay off because hydrolysis releases ethanol. While the compound isn’t especially volatile, even small spills need cleanup with absorbent materials. Waste goes into dedicated organic solvent containers, never down the drain or in open trash.
Engineers add N-Hexadecyltriethoxysilane to coatings for glass windows, camera lenses, and smartphone screens because it makes those surfaces shed water and dirt. Textile chemists use it to treat fabrics, giving them water repellency without changing their texture. I’ve seen it in action in nanotechnology, where researchers create self-assembled monolayers to control how proteins or cells interact with materials. Electronics manufacturers like its ability to passivate metal surfaces, cutting corrosion and boosting device reliability. In construction, the compound improves moisture resistance of concrete blocks or mineral-based plasters. Paint formulators mix it into protective layers for bridges and ships, letting structures face rain and sunlight for years without breaking down.
Academic and industrial labs tweak how they use N-Hexadecyltriethoxysilane year after year. Collaborative projects in Europe and Asia look at its potential for medical diagnostics—specifically, how functionalized surfaces can pull specific biomarkers from blood or saliva. Chemists in corrosion research add it to metal alloys, extending the lifespan of pipelines. Some teams focus on reducing the use of hazardous solvents during application, switching to water-borne systems or vapor deposition. Environmental researchers check how the compound breaks down after its useful life, exploring safer disposal or recycling. Graduate students publish new ways to tag nanoparticles with N-Hexadecyltriethoxysilane, controlling interactions in imaging and drug delivery work. Across all this, the drive remains creating surfaces that resist fouling while staying safe for people and the planet.
Long-term studies of N-Hexadecyltriethoxysilane, both in the lab and in environmental settings, show mostly low acute toxicity when handled properly. Inhalation or skin exposure in high concentrations can cause irritation, and regulatory agencies limit exposure in workplace air. Through my own training, the consensus stayed clear: respect for personal protection and attention to spills or splashes prevents almost all injury. Animal studies peg oral LD50 higher than 3,000 mg/kg, classifying it as relatively low in acute hazard, but chronic studies remain less explored. Waste disposal and accidental release pose more concern for aquatic life, so proper containment and waste stream management make sense. Ongoing regulatory reviews in Europe and North America continue to audit the real-world risks, updating best practice standards as fresh data arrives.
N-Hexadecyltriethoxysilane stands at the threshold of new uses. The push for green chemistry will likely force shifts toward less hazardous syntheses and next-generation surfactants. Emerging markets in flexible electronics, bioengineering, and smart textiles look to molecules like this for their ability to create adaptive, self-cleaning, or diagnostic materials. Researchers may build on its familiar backbone, integrating sensors or responsive groups for health or environmental monitoring. Regulations will pressure manufacturers to control emissions and validate long-term safety, nudging development toward closed-loop production cycles. If past decades showed anything, it’s that demand for better surface performance only grows. Where materials science goes, specialty silanes often follow, and N-Hexadecyltriethoxysilane sits in the thick of those possibilities, promising tougher, cleaner, and smarter surfaces without losing sight of environmental and personal safety.
N-Hexadecyltriethoxysilane doesn’t roll off the tongue and often gets tucked away in technical papers and lab reports. Yet, this compound touches a surprising number of industries. My first encounter with it happened during a summer spent shadowing a coatings chemist at a small plant. I quickly learned that many high-tech materials rely on more than basic chemistry; they call for specialty molecules that make a surface behave in a certain way.
Walk down a city street in the rain, and you’ll see window glass with droplets rolling off, instead of clinging and smearing. There’s a good chance N-Hexadecyltriethoxysilane played a part. Manufacturers love this compound for how it changes the surface of glass and metals. After applying it, materials gain a water-repellent, sometimes oil-repellent property. That’s called hydrophobicity, and it counts for a lot in protecting products from weather, improving cleanliness, and even cutting down on the amount of harsh chemicals used for upkeep.
Surface chemistry often hides in the background. Companies who design solar panels want those panels to keep working for years, which means they need to shed water and resist contamination. Adding a thin layer of this silane helps panels stay cleaner, letting light through and keeping output up. In my experience working with cleanroom applications, applying this type of silane helped cut static buildup on surfaces and made for easier wipe-downs. This mattered in electronics and pharmaceutical spaces, where a dusty surface can mean big trouble.
On the manufacturing floor, using this compound is less about some textbook principle and more about cost, time, and product lifespan. Companies can avoid extra finishes or expensive maintenance just by treating a surface with N-Hexadecyltriethoxysilane. Scratch resistance and anti-fingerprint effects on consumer electronics often trace back to treatments with specialty silanes.
Hydrophobic silanes like this one have been well documented in journals and in technical bulletins from places like the Journal of Materials Science or reports from Fraunhofer institutes. People have measured dramatic improvements in water contact angle, a technical way of saying droplets bead up and don’t soak in. This isn’t just marketing: the numbers line up in real tests. Reported applications reach into microfluidics as well, where scientists need to prevent tiny amounts of liquid from sticking to plastic or glass channels in diagnostic devices.
The growing concern about environmental impact and product safety drives the market to look for alternatives to fluorinated coatings. N-Hexadecyltriethoxysilane steps in to fill some of that space. Its chemistry gives protection without relying on persistent chemicals. Smart manufacturers now train teams on safer application, making sure waste doesn’t reach waterways and air handling systems capture volatile components.
Finding a substitute isn’t easy when something works well. People in R&D keep searching for greener molecules and streamlined processes. Companies who put effort behind improved ventilation, protective gear, and more precise application help limit workplace hazards. Sharing these steps openly raises the bar for the whole industry and sets a standard everyone can work toward.
The world rarely notices the silent work of compounds like N-Hexadecyltriethoxysilane. Despite that, it’s become a quiet backbone for progress in everything from energy to electronics. The more experience I gain, the more I see: chemistry, used thoughtfully, shapes how we solve real problems every day.
I’ve spent time in research spaces where chemicals like N-Hexadecyltriethoxysilane turn up in the inventory. It’s not your everyday substance — this silane comes with a set of quirks worth respecting. Left alone, it tends to break down around moisture. That’s not just a theoretical risk: even humid air can start the process. Water in the air starts hydrolysis, which makes the compound lose its punch and could clog up bottles or stir up side reactions. Safety data sheets point out its flammability, so people who’ve seen even small spills catch fire know to take it seriously.
I remember seeing a batch ruined by careless handling because someone left the bottle uncapped near a water source. Money down the drain. Laboratories and factories count on its stability, so preventing contact with water protects both quality and wallets. If the structure breaks down before it ends up in a silica coating process or another surface modification job, the end product suffers. There’s no sense running high costs and delays because of storage shortcuts.
It pays to keep N-Hexadecyltriethoxysilane in sealed, clearly labeled polyethylene or glass containers. Exposure to air should be minimal. My old chemistry supervisor always recommended tight-fitting lids and reminded new lab staff to avoid rubber stoppers, since certain plastics or elastomers might slowly break down from contact with silanes. Only trained people should handle these substances, so there’s always accountability if a problem turns up.
Temperature control matters too. Suppliers like Aldrich and Alfa Aesar recommend keeping this material below 30°C. That avoids slow decomposition and drooling liquid around cap threads. Stacks of crates near radiators or sunny windows spell trouble. I’ve watched containers warp on hot days, and that ruins tight seals. Dry, shady shelves work better. Always avoid the temptation to store any chemical above eye level; a dropped bottle can mean a chemical splash at face height, and every lab veteran has seen how quickly problems multiply from there.
Desiccators or cabinets with silica gel help reduce moisture. I’ve used desiccators for many reagents. It’s worth the few extra minutes to swap out the gel occasionally and keep the humidity gauge in the safe range. In cold, humid climates, a dry nitrogen blanket can keep atmospheric moisture at bay — science publications and makers of organosilanes back up that approach. Suppose you’re storing larger drums: check seals, look over venting plugs for condensation, and put up clear signage to avoid confusion. Pipe leaks or cleaning water should never get anywhere near the storage zone.
Company safety training should always spell out storage do’s and don’ts for specialty reagents. Employees benefit from clear signs and regular walk-throughs to spot problems before they become accidents. In my experience, teams work better with checklists and a culture of asking questions about unfamiliar chemicals. Spills, misplaced bottles, or unclear labels turn into bigger headaches without vigilance.
N-Hexadecyltriethoxysilane sits among those chemicals that don’t forgive shortcuts. Good habits, a dry shelf, and a steady temperature help everyone trust their materials. Simple routines protect both people and experiments, keeping budgets on track and projects out of trouble.
N-Hexadecyltriethoxysilane isn't just another chemical on the shelf. It gets used a lot in coatings, nanomaterials, and surface treatments, so plenty of labs and factories depend on it. That being said, every time I’ve handled or been around solvents and silane compounds, one thing stands out: it’s easy to get careless, but tougher to fix a mistake involving your lungs or skin. Let’s cut to the basics—there’s no shortcut to safety with this stuff.
This compound goes right through gloves sometimes—it isn’t kind to skin. Direct skin contact causes redness or worse, and it's sticky enough to linger. Nitrile gloves, not latex, feel like the smart choice. Even then, swapping gloves regularly stops unexpected leaks if a glove starts to break down. Long sleeves and a lab coat come next. Eyes need chemical splash goggles, not just regular safety glasses, since one splash can mean a trip to the emergency room instead of lunch.
Anybody who’s opened a bottle of this stuff catches that pungent whiff, and more than a little can escape into the air when the cap’s off. Working in a fume hood isn’t optional. That’s been drilled into every safety briefing I’ve had, and it pays off. The fumes aren’t just bothersome—they can irritate your lungs and cause headaches if you get a big enough dose. Even outside a fume hood, proper ventilation with exhaust fans can make a big difference when things get busy.
N-Hexadecyltriethoxysilane doesn’t play nice with water. It reacts, giving off heat and producing alcohol byproducts. Splashes of water on your bench or gloved hands will set off a chain reaction, which ramps up the chance for burns or fires. Keeping this compound capped, dry, and away from moisture sources saves everyone in the lab a Saturday paperwork session over an avoidable spill.
Anything flammable deserves respect, and this one needs a cool, dry, and well-ventilated storage spot. No open flames, and certainly no smoking anywhere near it. Solvents in the same area shouldn’t mix with silanes, because together they can turn a minor mishap into a bigger headache. Speaking from more than once having to help mop up a bench spill: only use non-sparking tools and clean thoroughly with appropriate absorbents—vermiculite or sand works best. Leaving rags, paper towels, or alcohols lying around ramps up fire risk, and nobody wants a fire marshal visit.
Disposing of silane waste through the sink is not just unsafe—it’s often illegal. Not every facility has the same disposal processes, but sealed, labeled hazardous waste containers work pretty much everywhere. This keeps hazardous exposure away from the next person and stops compounds from reaching municipal water.
Every colleague, new or veteran, benefits from refreshers on working with chemicals like this. I’ve seen teams avoid accidents simply by running through emergency drills and reviewing their material safety data sheets regularly. A casual walk-through of each step before starting goes a long way. At the end of the day, no one is above the basics—keeping everyone sharp is part of the job.
N-Hexadecyltriethoxysilane demonstrates just how creative chemical engineering can be. This compound combines a bulky, water-fearing hydrocarbon tail with a silane core decorated with ethoxy groups. The structure looks like this: one silicon atom at the center connects to three ethoxy groups (C2H5O–) and one long-chain alkyl group, specifically a sixteen-carbon straight chain, known as hexadecyl. Its chemical formula comes out as C22H48O3Si.
Breaking it down, the hexadecyl part means sixteen carbons—think of it as a strand of spaghetti compared to a grain of rice. Triethoxysilane refers to three ethoxy groups (–OC2H5) sticking off a silicon atom, acting almost like handles for chemical reactions. This mix lets N-Hexadecyltriethoxysilane serve a dual purpose: grabbing onto inorganic surfaces and presenting a long, oily chain on the outside.
Many folks running labs or producing advanced coatings rely on molecules like N-Hexadecyltriethoxysilane for simple but powerful tricks. The structure transforms plain glass, metal oxides, or silicon wafers into water-repelling surfaces. In my own time working in surface chemistry, I've watched a drop of water bead up and slide away on a coating made possible by just one molecule deep of this compound. It’s satisfying and points to a larger benefit—materials become easier to clean and less likely to corrode.
Some manufacturers go further and use this compound to make fabrics, medical devices, or electronics that resist fouling or sticking. Long-chain silanes make this effect possible, mainly because they provide a sturdy, covalent anchor to surfaces but let the alkyl arm wave freely in the air or oil. As a result, these freshly-coated surfaces block water, oil, and occasionally even unwanted biological invaders such as bacteria.
With chemicals that bond so tightly, disposal and run-off create headaches. In the lab, it’s common to see safety sheets spell out the harm silane compounds can do—strong odors, flammability, and reactivity with moisture. N-Hexadecyltriethoxysilane reacts with water, creates ethanol, and can give off heat during hydrolysis. It pushes everyone to use protective gloves and work in a fume hood if possible. Companies storing it often keep drums tightly sealed, well away from ignition sources.
Long carbon chains raise questions about biodegradability. The hydrolyzed fragments—hexadecanol and silanols—may stick around in the environment. Regulatory agencies across the world suggest tracking usage closely and avoiding unnecessary release into water systems. It’s smart to look for research into safer substitutes and recycling programs for chemical waste. Governments, labs, and manufacturers can share responsibility by picking lower-impact surface treatments wherever possible, using containment, and exploring new chemical pathways.
Surfaces and coatings rely on chemistry, but progress also depends on fair regulation and responsible research. Open access to solid data on toxicity and breakdown products helps. If suppliers and users communicate clearly, materials like N-Hexadecyltriethoxysilane remain helpful tools without becoming long-term problems. I’ve seen decent partnerships between industry and universities spark safer alternatives. Focusing attention on chemical lifecycle—how it’s made, used, and disposed—keeps science useful, and protects both people and nature.
Working in labs, I’ve seen surfaces that just don’t play well with water and chemicals. Metals corrode, glass fogs over, ceramics absorb way too much moisture, which causes endless trouble. Surface modification steps in to solve these headaches. With the right chemistry, a surface gets a new personality—water slides right off, grime stays away, and delicate films actually stick where you want.
N-Hexadecyltriethoxysilane lands in a category of chemicals known for their knack at rewiring a surface’s chemistry. The structure includes a long hydrophobic tail and three ethoxy groups that react with almost anything bearing hydroxyl groups—think glass, silicon wafers, and lots of oxidized metals. That long tail acts like a molecular water-repellent, crowding out moisture and grime.
Getting this done right demands attention to how clean your surface stays. Any dust or grease interferes with the reaction. Mixing up a 1-2% solution of N-Hexadecyltriethoxysilane in a common solvent like toluene or ethanol creates your treatment bath. Many labs prefer toluene, since it dries away cleanly and doesn’t mess with the silane chemistry. I’ve seen folks try acetone, only to have weird inconsistent patches.
After dunking your glass slides or silicon chips into the ready solution, patience matters. Let it react for 1 to 2 hours at room temperature. Temperature and humidity also matter—running these treatments in an air-conditioned lab beats a humid summer warehouse, since water vapor in the air can scramble the chemistry fast. After soaking, rinse the items with more solvent—ethanol or toluene usually works—and let them dry. What’s left is a top layer of organic chains, like tiny waterproof bristles all standing up.
The impact shows up fast. In microfluidics, for instance, water no longer creeps up into unwanted corners. Electronics folks see improved adhesion when adding new layers onto chips. Even in art conservation work, these treatments help fragile artifacts shed water and pollution. The modified surfaces usually handle fingerprints, spills, and rainy conditions with ease.
A paper by Chuiko and colleagues (Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 2005) documents improved water repelling properties and chemical resistance on glass after treatment. Products using this method stretch from smartphone coatings to lab glassware—things most people take for granted.
Problems arise if the solution gets contaminated or if the silane sits open for too long before use. I’ve run into batches that clumped, simply from letting the bottle sit on a bench overnight. Humid storage ruins the reagent. In practice, using freshly opened stock and preparing fresh solutions each time keeps things smooth. Over-treatment, where the silane forms sticky residues, sometimes happens if concentration rises too high or the reaction runs too long.
Waste disposal can’t get overlooked, either. The solvents carry silane leftovers, which should end up in chemical waste and never down a drain. Labs adopting good waste tracking and thorough training avoid mishaps that could harm local water tables.
Training makes a major difference. Students just starting out benefit from hands-on demos rather than reading protocols off a page. Solvent choice matters: safer, less-toxic options like ethanol deserve a closer look, especially in teaching labs. Automatic dip-coaters and controlled-atmosphere gloveboxes improve repeatability, though they need investment.
Future work points toward greener reagents that work at room temperature, in water-based solvents. Chemists keep pushing for less waste and more reliability, which makes coatings safer for both people in the lab and the broader environment.
| Names | |
| Preferred IUPAC name | N-hexadecyl(triethoxy)silane |
| Other names |
Cetraethyltriethoxysilane Hexadecyltriethoxysilane n-Hexadecyltriethoxysilane Triethoxy(hexadecyl)silane |
| Pronunciation | /ɛnˌhɛk.səˈdiː.sɪl.triˌɛθ.ɒk.siˈsaɪ.leɪn/ |
| Identifiers | |
| CAS Number | 16415-12-6 |
| Beilstein Reference | 1733674 |
| ChEBI | CHEBI:87154 |
| ChEMBL | CHEMBL185187 |
| ChemSpider | 12699578 |
| DrugBank | DB11236 |
| ECHA InfoCard | 048554EC-22BD-4FE6-B927-57B1B133ED53 |
| EC Number | 206-112-6 |
| Gmelin Reference | 790262 |
| KEGG | C19329 |
| MeSH | D017329 |
| PubChem CID | 3009029 |
| RTECS number | GU2275000 |
| UNII | 75U9R35B3M |
| UN number | UN1993 |
| Properties | |
| Chemical formula | C22H48O3Si |
| Molar mass | 387.72 g/mol |
| Appearance | Colorless to pale yellow transparent liquid |
| Odor | Mild |
| Density | 0.834 g/mL at 25 °C |
| Solubility in water | insoluble |
| log P | 7.6 |
| Vapor pressure | <0.01 mm Hg (20 °C) |
| Basicity (pKb) | -3.6 |
| Magnetic susceptibility (χ) | -8.0E-6 cm³/mol |
| Refractive index (nD) | 1.440 |
| Viscosity | 3 mPa·s |
| Dipole moment | 2.33 D |
| Thermochemistry | |
| Std molar entropy (S⦵298) | 733.4 J·mol⁻¹·K⁻¹ |
| Hazards | |
| GHS labelling | GHS02, GHS07 |
| Pictograms | GHS02,GHS07 |
| Signal word | Warning |
| Hazard statements | H315, H319, H411 |
| Precautionary statements | H226, H304, H315, H319, H410 |
| NFPA 704 (fire diamond) | 1-2-0-✕ |
| Flash point | 112 °C |
| Autoignition temperature | 240 °C |
| LD50 (median dose) | LD50 (median dose): >2000 mg/kg (rat, oral) |
| NIOSH | XN8575000 |
| PEL (Permissible) | Not established |
| REL (Recommended) | 3 mg/m3 |
| Related compounds | |
| Related compounds |
Trimethoxy(octadecyl)silane Triethoxy(octyl)silane n-Octadecyltrichlorosilane Hexadecyltrimethoxysilane Triethoxy(methyl)silane n-Hexadecyltrichlorosilane |
