Carbosilane Dendrimers as Nanoscopic Building Blocks for Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Materials and Catalyst Supports

Advanced nanoarchitectures can be achieved by covalent linking of dendrimeric modules into porous networks using sol–gel chemistry. The focus of this work lies in the conversion of second, third, and fourth generation carbosilane dendrimers to high surface area xerogels and aerogels, and the use of these materials as catalyst supports. By varying the hydrolysis solvent and dendrimeric precursor employed, the properties of the nanoarchitectures can be easily tuned. In particular, triethoxysilyl-terminated dendrimers have been hydrolyzed in solvents of varying polarity with acid catalysts to produce micro- and mesoporous hybrid dendrimer xerogels and aerogels with a controllable degree of Si–OH functionality.