Synthesis Strategies to Design Structures for Catalytic Applications

Two approaches to synthesize silicon-based catalytic structures that aim at capturing the properties and functionalities of natural enzymes are described in this brief review: unit-by-unit synthesis of macromolecular units and templating/imprinting synthesis of nano-cages. The unit-by-unit approach mimics the peptide synthesis method, offers atomic control of the structure, but is inefficient in synthesizing large structures such as nanocages. The templating/imprinting method is more suitable for nanocages at the sacrifice of atomic control, and the nanocages obtained are shown to possess properties exhibited by enzyme cavities.