The subject of this thesis is the synthesis and characterisation of novel self-assembling 2-hydroxycarboxylic acids and triphenylenes, as well as the sol-gel synthesis of silica nanomaterials. Moreover, the studies of covalent or noncovalent interactions between the templates and silanes are also included. Chapter 1 contains a general introduction of two different strategies that can be used for the generation of nanomaterials, and different types of silica nanomaterials. Chapter 2 describes the use of organic bases as additives to stabilise the shortlived, 5- and 6- coordinate silicon species formed in the mixture of simple 2- hydroxyacid, glycolic aci~ (GA) and tetramethoxysilane (TMOS). The effects of various conditions including the ratios of reactants, the amount of water added, etc on the formation of silicon complexes are systematically investigated. Chapter 3 contains the synthesis and characterization of achira1 and chiral 2- hydroxycarboxylic acids with different substituents. Solubility and gelation studies are also included. Moreover, contained in this chapter is the investigatiqn of covalent interactions between 2-hydroxycarboxylic acids and TMOS by the combination of different characterization techniques. In addition, the generation of silica materials on the basis of gelation studies and covalent interactions is also discussed. Chapter 4 describes the synthesis and characterization of novel triphenylene compounds which may self-assemble into well-defined nanostructures. Followed by the investigation of the self-assembly of triphenylenes in different solvents and the use of triphenylenes as templates for the sol-gel synthesis of silica materials. Chapter 5 summarizes the whole project and proposes the future work.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:634745 |
| Date | January 2008 |
| Creators | Yang, Xiaofei |
| Publisher | University of Leeds |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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