Novel polyether–inorganic hybrid mesoporous silica synthesized through in situ incorporation of organic functionality

A new polyether–inorganic hybrid mesoporous silica has been synthesized through in situ incorporation of hydroquinone (HQ) moiety bridging between two silica units using tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) as silica source in the presence of the self assembly of cationic surfactant under acidic pH. Samples synthesized with TEOS:HQ mole ratio of 2.0 and 4.0 showed good organic loading, mesoporosity and stability. Decreasing this ratio to 1.0 resulted in a organic-rich mesoporous hybrid material, which collapsed during template removal, whereas, increasing this ratio to 8.0 resulted in very poor incorporation of hydroquinone in the mesoporous silica. XRD and N₂ sorption data suggested the mesopore structure. TEM images indicated the wormhole like structure of these mesoporous samples. Solid state NMR data suggested the existence of (–O–C₆H₄–O)₂Si¹(OSi)₂ and (–O–C₆H₄–O)Si¹(OSi)₃ sites in addition to (Si¹(OSi)₄) sites. UV–Visible and FT-IR data suggested the incorporation of hydroquinone species and Si–O–Ph bonding in the samples.