Use of sublimation for template removal from menthol templated mesoporous organosilica prepared via sol-gel process

Menthol templated vinyl-functionalized organosilica materials were prepared by acid catalyzed hydrolytic sol-gel reactions of tetraethyl orthosilicate and vinyltriethoxysilane. The menthol template was removed by sublimation under vacuum, leading to the formation of a mesoporous organosilica material. This work presents a solventless, low temperature method of extraction of template from mesoporous materials. For the first time, sublimation was demonstrated to be an effective means of template removal to generate a mesoporous material. A comparison of sublimation and solvent extraction as template removal methods is also presented. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.