Mesochemistry

Advances in host-guest chemistry of inorganic mesostructures are creating a new dimension in materials chemistry aimed at the synthesis of functional mesoscoʹpic systems. Mesostructured materials can now be made with insulating, semiconducting and metallic properties. Guests, which have recently been encapsulated within the channels of hexagonal mesoporous silica hosts, MCM-41, include organic and inorganic polymers, luminescent silicon clusters, buckminster-ʹfulterenes, long-chain alkylthiolates, immobilized enzymes and a variety of inorganic, organometallic and organic compounds.