Sol–gel polymerization of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) was carried out in the organogel phase consisting of cholesterol-based gelators (neutral 1 and cationic 2). TEOS polymerization in neutral 1 + MeCO2H gel resulted in the conventional granular silica whereas that in cationic 2 + MeCO2H gel yielded the novel mesoporous silica with a tubular structure. SEM and TEM observations and additive effects established that the organogel fibers act as a template in the TEOS polymerization process to yield the hollow silica fibers and that the electrostatic interaction plays a crucial role in adsorption of anionic oligomeric silica particles onto the cationic organogel fiber surface. Thus, the tubular structure is created after combustion
of the gelators by calcination. Very interestingly, when TEOS polymerization was carried out in the 1 + 2 mixed organogel, fibrous silica with a right-handed “helical” structure was created. This phenomenon appeared only in the range of 2/(1 + 2) = 5–15 mol%. Since the higher-order helical structure is characteristic of supramolecular assemblies of “chiral” organic compounds, it is suggested that the chirality in the organogel fibers is successfully transcribed into the inorganic silica fibers. Thus, the concept presented in this paper describes a novel template effect and should be broadly applicable to the design of “supramolecular” silica materials useful
for catalysts, memory storage, replication, etc.
在基于
胆固醇的凝胶剂(中性1和阳离子2)组成的疏
水凝胶相中进行了四乙氧基
硅烷(TEOS)的溶胶-凝胶聚合反应。在中性1 + MeCO2H凝胶中进行的TEOS聚合反应得到了传统的颗粒状
二氧化硅,而在阳离子2 + MeCO2H凝胶中则得到了具有管状结构的新型介孔
二氧化硅。扫描电镜和透射电镜观察以及添加剂效应表明,有机凝胶纤维在TEOS聚合过程中起到了模板作用,生成了空心
二氧化硅纤维,并且静电相互作用在阴离子寡聚
二氧化硅颗粒吸附到阳离子有机凝胶纤维表面方面起着至关重要的作用。因此,通过煅烧燃烧凝胶剂后形成了管状结构。非常有趣的是,当在1 + 2混合有机凝胶中进行TEOS聚合时,产生了具有右旋“螺旋”结构的纤维状
二氧化硅。这种现象仅在2/(1 + 2) = 5–15 mol%的范围内出现。由于高级螺旋结构是有机“手性”化合物的超分子组装的特征,因此可以认为有机凝胶纤维中的手性成功地传递给了无机
二氧化硅纤维。因此,本文提出的概念描述了一种新颖的模板效应,并且应广泛适用于设计可用于催化剂、存储、复制等的“超分子”
二氧化硅材料。