It is interesting to note that so far studies on the neutral pH dimerization have primarily focused on the reactivity of H4SiO4, and in particular on the nucleophilicity of hydroxide oxygens and the electro-positivity of the central silicon. For example, arrived at a onestep dimerization mechanism where the hydroxide oxygen of one orthosilicic acid attacks the silicon of another directly. However, this mechanism yielded a high activation energy of 127 kJ/mol and the energetics have been corroborated by succeeding simulation studies with only minor modifications . Furthermore, it does not explain why there is dependence of the kinetics on the ionic strength. It has increasingly become apparent that this mechanism cannot account for the empirical activation energies observed.