Controlled loadings in a mesoporous material: click-on silica

Hybrid mesoporous SBA-15 silicas were synthesized directly with variable alkylazide loading representing 2-50% surface coverage. These hybrid silica materials retain the favorable physical attributes of the parent SBA-15 materials and allow efficient covalent attachment of ethynylated organic moieties through a copper catalyzed 3 + 2 Huisgen cycloaddition reaction. Three distinctly different examples are provided demonstrating the efficiency and robust nature of this attachment synthetic strategy. The direct syntheses provide predefined loadings of randomly distributed organics within the materials, from site-dense to site-isolated. Such control over loadings along with simply implemented analytic procedures should facilitate the translation of homogeneous chemistries to heterogeneous supports.