Molecular imprinting of bulk, microporous silica

Alexander Katz and Mark E. Davis ()
Additional contact information
Alexander Katz: Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology
Mark E. Davis: Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology

Nature, 2000, vol. 403, issue 6767, 286-289

Abstract: Abstract Molecular imprinting aims to create solid materials containing chemical functionalities that are spatially organized by covalent1 or non-covalent2 interactions with imprint (or template) molecules during the synthesis process. Subsequent removal of the imprint molecules leaves behind designed sites for the recognition of small molecules, making the material ideally suited for applications such as separations, chemical sensing and catalysis2,3,4,5. Until now, the molecular imprinting of bulk polymers2,3,4,5 and polymer6,7 and silica8,9 surfaces has been reported, but the extension of these methods to a wider range of materials remains problematic. For example, the formation of substrate-specific cavities within bulk silica, while conceptually straightforward10, has been difficult to accomplish experimentally11,12. Here we describe the imprinting of bulk amorphous silicas with single aromatic rings carrying up to three 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane side groups; this generates and occupies microporosity and attaches functional organic groups to the pore walls in a controlled fashion. The triethoxysilane part of the molecules’ side groups is incorporated into the silica framework during sol–gel synthesis, and subsequent removal of the aromatic core creates a cavity with spatially organized aminopropyl groups covalently anchored to the pore walls. We find that the imprinted silicas act as shape-selective base catalysts. Our strategy can be extended to imprint other functional groups, which should give access to a wide range of functionalized materials.

Date: 2000
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/35002032 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:403:y:2000:i:6767:d:10.1038_35002032

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/35002032

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().