Cyclopentadienyl-functionalised polyhedral silsesquioxanes as building blocks for new nanostructured materials

This work is to design new organosilicon precursors, which contain both siloxane and cyclopentadienyl functionalities and use these compounds as building blocks for new nanomaterials. Polyhedral silsesquioxanes, (RSiO1.5)n (n = 8 and 10) with cyclopentadienyl (R = –C5H5 or –(CH2)3–C5H5) functionalities have been prepared by hydrolytic condensation of the correspondent silicon organic precursors RSiCl3 or RSi(OC2H5)3. The products with cyclopentadienyl groups have been used to prepare new cross-linked 3D polymeric materials by Diels–Alder reaction. The compounds have been characterised by multinuclear (1H and 29Si) NMR, ESI MS and IR spectroscopy, UV/Vis spectrometry, gel permeation chromatography and scanning electron microscopy. The approach above seems to be very promising for the preparation of new nanostructured materials.