Functional Materials: From Hard to Soft Porous Frameworks

This Review aims to give an overview of recent research in the area of porous, organic-inorganic and purely organic, functional materials. Possibilities for introducing organic groups that exhibit chemical and/or physical functions into porous materials will be described, with a focus on the incorporation of such functional groups as a supporting part of the pore walls. The number of organic groups in the network can be increased such that porous, purely organic materials are obtained. Pores for thought: This Review describes porous functional materials in which the organic groups act as a part of the pore wall. The focus is on functional mesoporous organosilicas as well as meso- and microporous polymers. The large number of functional groups in such porous materials allows, for example, a new approach to bridging the gap between homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis. © 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.