Synthesis of mesoporous silica materials by using anionic surfactants as template

Mesoporous materials have attracted a great deal of attention because of their controllable structures and compositions, which make them suitable for a wide range of applications in catalysis, environmental clean-up, and development of advanced materials. Various mesoporous materials can be synthesized based on the self-assembly of surfactants and inorganic precursors. We previously demonstrated a novel templating route for preparing mesoporous silicas based on the self-assembly of anionic surfactants and inorganic precursors in the presence of aminosilane or quaternized aminosilane as a co-structure-directing agent (CSDA). We continue to investigate the resultant novel mesoporous materials called anionic surfactant mesoporous silica (AMS). The latest AMS series is a novel bicontinuous cubic Pn (3) over barm mesoporous silica (AMS-10). We have also found that the as-synthesized AMS is transformed into amino-functionalized mesoporous silica, by removal of only the surfactant by extraction, with potential uses as high-performance catalysts and adsorbents. Furthermore, the use of a chiral anionic surfactant derived from the amino acid, N-myristoyl-L-alanine sodium salt, provides chiral mesoporous silica. Such anionic surfactant templating routes will provide a new family of mesoporous materials as well as information on the structural behavior of anionic surfactants. This review describes the preparation, properties, and potential applications of anionic surfactant templated mesoporous silicas.