A Non-surfactant Templating Route to Mesoporous Silica Materials

Abstract

The templated synthesis of mesoporous materials using surfactant templates has been known since 1992. The discovery reported here, that non-surfactant organic molecules, e.g., optically active organic compounds such as D-glucose, also act as templates for the formation of mesoporous silica materials with large surface areas and pore volumes and narrow pore size distribution, opens new opportunities for the preparation of mesostructural materials because of the vast diversity of organic compounds that may function as templates.