Of the fifteen or so elements considered to be essential to life silic
on is perhaps the most mysterious in that no stable attachment to the
organic molecules of life has been demonstrated. This article draws at
tention to the inorganic chemistry of silicic acid and its interaction
s with basic metal ions in aqueous solution at circumneutral pH. The i
nteractions with aluminium are of particular interest because aluminiu
m is toxic when it enters physiology. It is normally excluded and the
role of silicic acid in this exclusion is discussed.