SiGNa chemistry is a type of chemistry in which alkali metals are encapsulated into porous oxides of silica gel in order to reduce their pyrophoric and highly combustible properties while preserving the desirable reduction reactivity of the metals (Dye, et al.). One can deconstruct the term "SiGNa" to derive Si (symbol for silicon), G (gel), and Na (symbol for sodium, a popular alkali metal).
SiGNa chemistry was pioneered by Michael Lefenfeld, a PhD student at Columbia University with the help of Dr. James Dye of Michigan State University.
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“For me chemistry represented an indefinite cloud of future potentialities which enveloped my life to come in black volutes torn by fiery flashes, like those which had hidden Mount Sinai. Like Moses, from that cloud I expected my law, the principle of order in me, around me, and in the world.... I would watch the buds swell in spring, the mica glint in the granite, my own hands, and I would say to myself: “I will understand this, too, I will understand everything.””
—Primo Levi (1919–1987)