Supramolecular inorganic templating

The use of ordered supramolecular assemblies, such as micelles, monolayers, vesicles, inverted micelles, and lyotropic liquid crystalline systems, allows for the controlled nucleation of inorganic materials on molecular templates with well-defined structure and surface chemistry. Poly(propyleneimine) dendrimers modified with long aliphatic chains are a new class of amphiphiles which display a variety of aggregation states due to their conformational flexibility [38]. In the presence of octadecylamine, poly(propyleneimine) dendrimers modified with long alkyl chains self-assemble to form remarkably rigid and well-defined aggregates. When the aggregate dispersion was injected into a supersaturated... 

Since the first synthesis of mesoporous M41S alumosilicates in 1992 [1,2] numerous systems of mesoporous materials have been reported. The principle method of these syntheses consists of the utilisation of lyotropic liquid crystals as supramolecular templates, which act as structure directing agents in order to mesostructure inorganic building units. 

The kinds of structures adopted by these microorganisms as well as other mineral morphologies, are the subject of increasing study as chemists look at soft templated routes to nanoscale objects. Early work in the 1990s by a team at Mobile used supramolecular micelles, lamellae and bicontinuous phases4 formed by amphiphiles, to assemble inorganic materials, particularly silica and alumina. A range of new... 

There are nevertheless a number of recent indicators that the biotechnological challenge has fostered the chemists creativity. Some of them are able to self-assemble components, thanks to a clever use of surfactants as supramolecular templates. Inorganic complex structures presenting a variety of interesting shapes such as discs or helix can be obtained at a mesoscale or in some cases at the macroscopic level. [28]... 

This new family of mesoporous silica and aluminosilicate compounds were obtained by the introduction of supramolecular assemblies. Micellar aggregates, rather than molecular species, were used as structure-directing agents. Then, the growth of inorganic or hybrid networks templated by structured surfactant assemblies permitted the construction of novel types of nanostructured materials in the mesoscopic scale (2-100 nm) [110,113,117],... 

---