It is now well known that mesoporous inorganic materials with extremely high surface areas and ordered mesostructure can be synthesized through sol-gel reactions of metal alkoxides in the presence of molecular assemblies of surfactants or related structure directing substances. [1±4] The original method, developed by scientists at Mobil Oil Research and Development, [1] has lead to extensive applications of these materials as catalyst supports and chromatographic resins. [4] The mechanism of organization of such a mesostructure involves electrostatic interactions and charge matching between micellar assemblies of quaternary ammonium cations (S + ) and anionic silicate oligomer species (I ± ).In many applications of mesoporous materials, functionalization of silanol groups on the surfaces of the materials are required. [5±7] Presently, extensive research is being conducted to develop procedures to introduce functional silane ligands into the surfaces of the ordered mesoporous materials. For example, Liu and coworkers [6] have recently developed new and more effective mesoporous sorbents for the removal of toxic metal ions by coating surfaces of the hexagonally packed mesoporous silica with organic functional groups to enhance the affinity of the mesoporous sorbents for toxic metal ions. Similar sorbents have also been described by Mercier and Pinnavaia. [7] The generally accepted mechanism for the direct coating method involves the initial hydrolysis of siloxane groups in the functional silane ligand followed by condensation with the surface silanol groups to produce ligands that are covalently bonded or ªtetheredº to the surfaces. Drawbacks associated with this direct coating method are: 1) the requirement of timeconsuming (>24 h) syntheses under reflux and 2) low loading of functional silane ligands. In this communication we _______________________ ± [*] Dr.
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