Stöber strategy for synthesizing multifluorescent organosilica nanocrystals

The Stober process is revisited using vinyltriethoxysilane as the precursor, where a kinetics-controlled condensation of vinylsilanols, free from external fluorogens, unprecedentedly produces hydrophilic diamond-structured organosilica nanocrystals (ca. 2–6 nm) with finely tunable fluorescence (460–625 nm). The key to the synthesis lies in a slow successful condensation of vinylsilanols triggered and guided by the π–π stacking interaction of vinyl groups.