Low temperature strategy to synthesize high surface area mesoporous hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin-based silicas via benign template removal

We report in the present paper the preparation of mesoporous silica materials from hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin-silica hybrid via ammonium perchlorate oxidation method to remove organic templates at relatively low temperature (⩽100 °C). The results from IR and nitrogen adsorption show that the template-free silica product obtained after efficient cyclodextrin removal at 60 °C for 12 h in a Teflon autoclave has richer surface silanol groups and a higher surface area (849 m2 g−1) than the calcinated sample. XRD analysis and TEM measurement show that these silica materials have a disordered wormlike mesostructure. This study provides an easy, cheap and useful method for a large-scale preparation of mesoporous silica materials at low temperature.