Coated pigment and method of making

A method of coating a substrate, the method consisting of:

• (a) a step of reacting a mixture consisting of an inorganic network former and an organofunctional network former in a condensation-type reaction, optionally in the presence of a solvent, to form a reaction product on the substrate,
• and subsequently:
• (b) one or more further steps of reacting a mixture consisting of an inorganic network former and an organofunctional network former in a condensation-type reaction in the presence of the reaction product from step (a) and optionally in the presence of a solvent,
• wherein the organofunctional network former used in the method consists of one or more compounds of formula (II):
• R1iR2jR3kSiX(4-i-j-k) (II)
• wherein
• each of i, j and k is independently 0 or 1, provided that at least one of i, j and k is 1,
• each of R1, R2 and R3 is independently an organic group, provided that at least one of R1, R2 and R3 is a reactive organic group, and
• each X is independently an optionally hydrolyzable and/or condensable group selected from the group consisting of halogen, —OH, —OR′, or —Y, and/or one pair of X moieties together represent a divalent chelating ligand, wherein
• each R7 is independently an organic group, and
• each Y is independently —(O—R4—O—Si(R5)m(X′)2-m—)nR6, wherein
• each R4 is independently a divalent organic group,
• each R5 is independently an organic group,
• each m is independently 0, 1 or 2
• each X′ is independently an optionally hydrolyzable and/or condensable group selected from halogen, —OH, or —OR7, and/or one or more pairs of geminal X′ moieties together represent a divalent chelating ligand,
• wherein each R7 is independently an organic group,
• n is 1 to 10, and
• R6 is an organic group.