Synthesis of microporous transition metal oxide molecular sieves with bifunctional templating molecules

Systematic tuning of the micropore size in microporous transition metal oxide molecular sieves can be achieved by varying the length of the hydrocarbon chain of the diamine molecules used as templating agents. The large bifunctional molecules self-assemble with much smaller cross-sectional miceliar dimensions than their monofunctional counterparts. The resulting family of porous materials offers exciting new flexibility in designing molecular sieves targeted for size selectivity and chemical functionality.