Tuning the Properties of Chiral Nematic Mesoporous (Organo)silica Through Thiol‐Ene Click Chemistry

Abstract

AbstractChiral nematic mesoporous silica and organosilica have iridescent properties that make them attractive for decoration and sensing. The limited number of commercial organosilica precursors available to create these materials has meant that they have a limited range of chemical and mechanical properties. In this paper, we incorporate vinyl groups in the mesoporous (organo)silica materials and demonstrate their functionalization with thiols through the thiol‐ene click reaction. In this way, we have been able to access chiral nematic mesoporous materials with different functional groups on the surface. We demonstrate that the hydrophobicity of the materials can be tuned, enabling detection of mixtures of organic solvents in water as well as showing promise for ion sequestration.