Novel Route to Periodic Mesoporous Aminosilicas, PMAs: Ammonolysis of Periodic Mesoporous Organosilicas

A new route to periodic mesoporous aminosilicas (PMAs) that contain amine functional groups in the framework of a mesoporous network is reported. The materials are prepared via thermal ammonolysis of periodic mesoporous organosilicas (PMOs) under a flow of ammonia gas. PMOs integrate similar or even higher quantities of nitrogen-containing groups upon ammonolysis than similarly treated ordered mesoporous silicas (MCM-41). The quantity of amine groups introduced into the materials was found to depend strongly on the ammonolysis temperature. The largest loading of amine groups was obtained when a well-ordered cubic methylene PMO material without prior vacuum-drying was thermolyzed in ammonia. The ordered mesoporosity of PMOs was preserved during the ammonolysis with only a slight decrease in the mesopore size and the degree of mesostructural ordering. The extent of substitution of framework oxygen by amine and nitride groups was established by solid-state 29Si CP-MAS, 29Si MAS, 15N MAS, and 13C CP-MAS NMR s...