Ordered Molecular Arrays as Templates: A New Approach to the Synthesis of Mesoporous Materials

Mesoporous solids with adjustable pore sizes and narrow pore size distributions have been lacking in the repertoire of the solid‐state chemist and materials scientist. By extending typical zeolite synthesis procedures to an approach that can be designated as templating by self‐assembled molecular arrays, researchers from the Mobil Oil Company have now been able to crystallize materials with pore sizes adjustable between 16 and over 100 Å; the pore size distributions are as narrow as those of the conventional zeolites.