Formation of hydrophilic sites in partially silylated micelle templated silica

摘要

The invention relates to a method of preparing a partially silylated silica having at a surface thereof hydrophilic sites defined by non-silylated hydroxyl groups. The method of the invention comprises the steps of (a) providing a micelle templated silica having at a surface thereof surfactant-protected hydroxyl groups and unprotected hydroxyl groups; (b) treating the micelle templated silica with a base-generating silylating agent to silylate the unprotected hydroxyl groups and thereby obtain a partially silylated micelle templated silica; and (c) treating the partially silylated micelle templated silica with an acid to displace the surfactant, thereby obtaining a partially silylated silica having at the surface thereof hydrophilic sites defined by non-silylated hydroxyl groups. Such a partially silyalated silica having hydrophilic sites is useful as a catalyst support and for ion exchange in chromatography.