New families of mesoporous materials

Mesoporous materials have been paid much attention in both scientific researches and practical applications. In this review, we focus on recent developments on preparation and functionalization of new families of mesoporous materials, especially non-siliceous mesoporous materials invented in our research group. Replica synthesis is known as the method to synthesize mesoporous materials composed of various elements using originally prepared mesoporous replica. This strategy has been applied for the syntheses of novel mesoporous materials such as carbon nanocage and mesoporous carbon nitride. Carbon nanocage has a cage-type structure with huge surface area and pore volume, which exhibits superior capabilities for biomolecular adsorption. Mesoporous carbon nitride was synthesized, for first time, by using mixed material source of carbon and nitrogen simultaneously. As a totally new strategy for synthesis of mesoporous materials, the elemental substitution method has been recently proposed by us. Direct substitution of component elements in original mesoporous materials, with maintaining structural regularity, provided novel mesoporous materials. According to this synthetic strategy, mesoporous boron nitride and mesoporous boron carbon nitride have been successfully prepared, for first time. In addition to these material inventions, hybridization of high functional materials, such as biomaterials, to mesoporous structure has been also developed. Especially, immobilization of proteins in mesopores was systematically researched, and preparation of peptide-hybridized mesoporous silica was demonstrated. These new families of mesoporous materials introduced in this review would have high potentials in future practical applications in wide ranges from electronics and photonics to environmental and medical uses. (c) 2006 NIMS and Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.