Constitutional Hybrid Materials - Toward Selection of Functions

This microreview reveals a new strategy to transcribe supramolecular architectures in self-organized constitutional hybrids. In particular, the use of communicating reversible-covalent and supramolecular hydrophobic interfaces between organic/supramolecular and inorganic/siloxane networks represents a useful approach for improving their compatibility. Interpenetrated hybrid components lead, after the sol-gel process, to materials in which the features of supramolecular and inorganic networks are expressed through cross-over and linear processing schemes. Such a dynamic marriage between the processes of supramolecular self-assembly and inorganic sol-gel polymerization, which communicate synergistically, leads to higher self-organized hybrid materials on increased micrometric scale. Considering the simplicity of this strategy, possible applications in membranes and sensors are effective, reaching close to novel expressions of complex matter.