Metal alkoxide process

The coupling and protection-deprotection reactions to yield Taxol were fully licensed by BMS from FSU as part of the original licensing agreement (Scheme 7.3). This so-called metal alkoxide process was patented by Holton in 1992 [13]. 

A few multicomponent electronic ceramics, fabricated through metal alkoxide processing, are described in this section. 

The process known as transimidization has been employed to functionalize polyimide oligomers, which were subsequentiy used to produce polyimide—titania hybrids (59). This technique resulted in the successhil synthesis of transparent hybrids composed of 18, 37, and 54% titania. The effect of metal alkoxide quantity, as well as the oligomer molecular weight and cure temperature, were evaluated using differential scanning calorimetry (dsc), thermogravimetric analysis (tga) and saxs. 

Figure 17 summarizes the avadable sol—gel processes (56). The process on the right of the figure involves the hydrolysis of metal alkoxides in a water—alcohol solution. The hydrolyzed alkoxides are polymerized to form a chemical gel, which is dried and heat treated to form a rigid oxide network held together by chemical bonds. This process is difficult to carry out, because the hydrolysis and polymerization must be carefully controlled. If the hydrolysis reaction proceeds too far, precipitation of hydrous metal oxides from the solution starts to occur, causing agglomerations of particulates in the sol. 

Sol—Gel Technology. The sol—gel process involves conversion of a metal alkoxide or mixture of metal alkoxides, dissolved in an organic solvent (generally the patent alcohol) into a hydroxooxyalkoxide sol, followed by gelation and sintering to give the desired ceramic material. 

Solution Deposition of Thin Films. Chemical methods of preparation may also be used for the fabrication of ceramic thin films (qv). MetaHo-organic precursors, notably metal alkoxides (see Alkoxides, metal) and metal carboxylates, are most frequently used for film preparation by sol-gel or metallo-organic decomposition (MOD) solution deposition processes (see Sol-GEL technology). These methods involve dissolution of the precursors in a mutual solvent control of solution characteristics such as viscosity and concentration, film deposition by spin-casting or dip-coating, and heat treatment to remove volatile organic species and induce crystaHhation of the as-deposited amorphous film into the desired stmcture. 

The alcohol-based process involves reactions with metal alkoxides. The reactions are hydrolysis,... 

Sol-gel chemistry offers a unique advantage in the creation of novel organic-inorganic hybrids. The sol-gel process begins with a solution of metal alkoxide precursors [M(0/f) ] and water, where M is a network-forming element, and R is typically an alkyl group. Hydrolysis and... 

Either particulate sol or polymeric sol has been used for thin film coatings. The polymeric sol was fabricated by partial hydrolysis of corresponding metal alkoxide. If the rate of hydrolysis or condensation is very fast, then some kinds of organic acids, beta-dicarbonyls, and alkanolamines have been used as chelating agent in sol-gel processes to control the extent and direction of the hydrolysis-condensation reaction by forming a strong complex with alkoxide. [2]. 

The most common sol-gel process employs metal alkoxides of network forming elements (M(0R) where M is Si, B, Ti, Al, etc. and R is often an alkyl group) as monomeric precursors. In alcohol/water solutions the alkoxide groups are removed stepwise by hydrolysis reactions, generally employing acid or base catalysts, and are... 

The basic sol-gel reaction can be viewed as a two-step network-forming polymerization process. Initially a metal alkoxide (usually TEOS, Si(OCIl2CH )4) is hydrolyzed generating ethanol and several metal hydroxide species depending on the reaction conditions. These metal hydroxides then undergo a step-wise polycondensation forming a three-dimensional network in the process. The implication here is that the two reactions, hydrolysis and condensation, occur in succession this is not necessarily true (8.9). Depending on the type of catalyst and the experimental conditions used, these reactions typically occur simultaneously and in fact may show some reversibility. 

Schubert, U., Hiising, N. and Lorenz, A. (1995) Hybrid inorganic-organic materials by sol-gel processing of organofunctional metal alkoxides. Chemistry of Materials, 7, 2010-2027. 

The sol-gel process involves hydrolysis of alkoxide precursors under acidic or basic conditions, followed by condensation and polycondensation of the hydroxylated units, which lead to the formation of porous gel. Typically a low molecular weight metal alkoxide precursor molecule such as tetramethoxy silane (TMOS) or tetra ethoxysilane (TEOS) is hydrolyzed first in the presence of water, acid catalyst, and mutual solvent... 

For polymeric CSD processes, three classes of metal organic (metallo-organic) compounds are used most often as starting reagents metal alkoxides, metal carboxylates, and metal beta-diketonates. These species differ in their solubility and reactivity, as well as their tendency to react with one another, all of which are factors that may influence starting reagent selection. Representative structures of these classes of precursors are illustrated in Fig. 2.2.8... 

Metal alkoxide compounds, frequently represented as M(OR)x, where M is a metal and R is an alkyl group, are the most common precursors in sol-gel CSD processes and are also frequently used in chelate processes.3-12,30-34 Groups such as OR, which are bound to a metal center, are frequently referred to as ligands. Alkoxide compounds, including commonly used alkoxides such as... 

Most often in these processes, compounds such as acetic acid, acetylacetone (acac, 2,4-pentanedione), or amine compounds are employed, since these compounds readily react with alkoxides.4M877 A typical reaction involves the formation of new chemical species that (hopefully) possess physical and chemical characteristics that are more attractive in terms of solution stability and film formation behavior. An example reaction between a metal alkoxide and acetic acid is shown below ... 

Stober A process for making metal oxides in the form of small spheres of uniform diameter by the controlled hydrolysis of metal alkoxides. First used in 1968 to make silica spheres from alkyl silicates. The products can be used to make high quality oxide ceramics. See also Sol-Gel. 

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