Issue 41, 2019

Azamacrocycles and tertiary amines can be used to form size tuneable hollow structures or monodisperse oxide nanoparticles depending on the ‘M’ source

Abstract

We show that the azamacrocycle ‘cyclam’ (1,4,8,11-tetraazacyclodecane) in conjunction with a silicon catecholate ion generates novel hollow tetragonal tube-like crystalline materials [(C6H4O2)3Si][C10H26N4]·H2O, whose dimensions can be tuned according to the pH of the reaction medium. The synthesis approach was successful for both silicon and germanium and we hypothesise that a range of other catecholate precursors of elements such as iron could be used to generate a large array of inorganic materials with interesting morphologies. The synthesis approach can be extended to tertiary diamines with functional group spacing playing an important role in the efficacy of complexation. Of the molecules explored to date, a C2 spacing (N,N,N′,N′-tetramethylethylenediamine (4MEDAE)), leads to the most efficient structure control with hollow hexagonal tube-like structures being formed. In addition, we show that azamacrocycles, in the presence of unbuffered tetramethoxysilane (TMOS) solutions can be used to manipulate silica formation and provide a fast (ca. 10 minutes) synthesis route to particles whose diameter can be tuned from ca. 20 nm to several hundreds of nm under reaction conditions (no extremes of pH) that make the sols suitable for direct use in biotechnological applications.

Graphical abstract: Azamacrocycles and tertiary amines can be used to form size tuneable hollow structures or monodisperse oxide nanoparticles depending on the ‘M’ source

Associated articles

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
17 May 2019
Accepted
24 Jun 2019
First published
24 Jun 2019

Dalton Trans., 2019,48, 15470-15479

Author version available

Azamacrocycles and tertiary amines can be used to form size tuneable hollow structures or monodisperse oxide nanoparticles depending on the ‘M’ source

G. E. Tilburey, T. J. Blundell, S. P. Argent and C. C. Perry, Dalton Trans., 2019, 48, 15470 DOI: 10.1039/C9DT02080B

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