Some Difficult Challenges for the Synthesis of Nanoporous Materials

It seems that, looking with a historical perspective, there is a major step change advance in porous materials science about once every decade. Usually, these advances take the form a new type of solid and depend on the expertise of synthetic chemists to develop new materials. So the question is what will be the next great leap forward in this area. Here I will offer several examples of very recent results that suggest challenges that remain in zeolite and porous materials science. They range from control over chirality and location of catalytic sites inside pores, to the preparation of ultrathin films and coatings of zeolite materials.