Patent ID: 8013059

Claim:
A process for the preparation of a hydrolysis/condensation product that exhibits a level of OH (t OH )>5% with respect to the total weight of the hydrolysis/condensation product, by acid catalysis, of silanes bearing hydrolyzable substituents, in a multiphase reaction medium, the process comprising: (1) forming a reaction medium in a continuous loop reactor comprising contacting said silanes bearing hydrolyzable substituents with water, buffer and neutralizing agent wherein said silanes are introduced into the reactor in an organic phase and the water, buffer and neutralizing agent are introduced into the reaction medium in an aqueous phase, and the aqueous phase and the organic phase are introduced into the reactor at a flow rate wherein the aqueous phase flow rate is between 3.6 and 10 times the flow rate of the organic phase, and the silanes/aqueous phase fraction by weight is greater than or equal to 0.05; (2) stabilizing the pH of the reaction medium between 7 and 12; (3) stirring said reaction medium with intensive stirring means to form droplets of organic phase having a Sauter mean diameter d 32 of less than 500 μm; and (4) separating the aqueous phase from the organic phase, where the organic phase comprises the hydrolysis/condensation products, wherein said silanes are hydrolyzed in the multiphase reaction medium before the coalescence of the organic droplets and the residence time of the reactive medium in the reactor is one minute or less.