Organic Polymer-Silica Gel Hybrid: A Precursor of Highly Porous Silica Gel

In this article I describe two of our discoveries. The first is the preparation of a transparent solid material composed of an organic polymer and silica gel. A novel material called a “hybrid” has successfully been prepared by the sol-gel reaction of ethyl orthosilicate in the presence of an organic polymer consisting of repeating units having an N-alkylamide group. The molecular-level dispersion of the organic polymer in the framework of silica gel has been established, which is due to the hydrogen-bond interaction between the organic polymer and silanol group of silica gel. The second discovery is the preparation of porous silica gel, which has been achieved by calcination of the organic polymer-silica gel hybrid at 600°C. Pore sizes ranging from 10 to 20 Å have been attained. A method of controlling pore size has been proposed.