Direct synthesis of high quality cubic Ia3d mesoporous material under organosilane assisted

Cubic Ia3d mesoporous silica was synthesized through a novel and effective way for the first time, using cationic surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and silica as the raw material plus vinyltriethoxysilane (VTES) additive through a phase transition method. The organic additive VTES not only acted as the organic-functionalizing agent in the synthesis, but also influenced the interaction between the cationic surfactant and silica oligomers, which was proven to be crucial for the formation of cubic Ia3d structure. The optimal synthetic conditions were determined to spur the phase transition toward Ia3d structure, including the VTES/(SiO2 + VTES) molar ratio of 0.176 and the HCl/(SiO2 + VTES) of 0.24 as well as the aging time of sample (72 h). Moreover, the resulting vinyl-containing MCM-48 exhibited the higher capability than common MCM-48 in gaseous adsorption of phenol and liquid adsorption of phenylalanine (Phe), offering a new candidate for environment protection and pharmaceutical industry.