I am a solid-state inorganic chemistry specialist, so polymer chemistry is a bit new for me. I want to use commercial silicone molds for cooking and I wonder if specific polymerization process is used to ensure good chemical stability, even at cooking temperatures. In my mind, silicone can release some volatile agents.
Silicone molds made for baking can withstand high temperature up to 500 oF. They ought not to melt & there is no evidence, so far, that they cause harm to human health. Silicone plastics & rubbers have been used for variety of medical purposes. The future artificial heart will be an elastomeric silicone polymer. It is amazing that the pieces of silicone polymers introduced into the human body as valves, joints, breasts ...etc. were not rejected (as the body does with other materials). We humanbeings originally came from earth & the second largest component of this earth is silicone!
Silicones are made by ring opening polymerization, therefore always there is a minor amount of cyclic oligomer residues in the system. The corsslining process is made by peroxides, metal-organic catalysts or platinum catalysts (depending on the kind of polymer you are using). Nevertheless I am quite sure that proper testing of these residuals (or their extraction) is performed in the case of products made for cooking or for medical implants. So far I have dealt only with industrial silicones used for preparing silicone insulators. Those contained measurable amounts of not volatiles, but oligomers.
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