POLYORGANIC FUNCTIONAL GROUPS MODIFIED SILICA, PROCESSES TO MAKE AND USE THEREOF

The invention relates to new compositions of polyorganic functional groups modified silica. The compositions contain a wide range of different functional groups such as mercapto, sulfide, thiourea, amines and amides in the same composition and each of these functional groups are present in an array of numerous different oligomers, configurations and stereochemistry. These functional groups have a strong affinity for metals and particular targets. Combining a high number of these functional groups together in the same composition enhances the overall binding affinity of the functionalised material. Combination with different structural configurations further enhances the capacity to bind to diverse structural variations in the targets found in actual process, product and waste streams. This multitude of binding mechanisms enables very high levels of purification and target removal as well as selectivity to be achieved in product, process and waste streams. The compounds are useful for the purification of products and for the removal of unwanted organic and inorganic compounds from product, process and waste streams, as chromatography medium for the purification and separation of metals, metal complexes and organic and biological compounds, for solid phase extraction, for solid phase synthesis, for metal mediated heterogeneous catalysis, for metal ion abstraction and for the immobilisation of bio-molecules.