Facile syntheses of nanoporous organosilica spherical particles

Abstract

Well-defined spherical particles of silica, containing phenyl group, with the diameter of ca. 2 microns were prepared by the co-condensation of tetraethoxysilane with phenyltriethoxysilane in basic aqueous methanol solutions of hexadecyltrimethylammonium chloride. The products were hydrophobic. The content of phenyl group was controlled by the ratio of tetraethoxysilane and phenyltriethoxysilane in the starting solution. Hexadecyltrimethylammonium was extracted with methanolic HCl to obtain nanoporous silica spherical particle containing phenyl group. The spherical particle possessed pore size of 1.8 nm and the BET surface area of 750 m2 g−1.