Chirality in ordered porous organosilica hybrid materials

The ever-growing demand for chiral small molecules on a global scale has set a precedent for the proliferation of cost-effective and reliable methods for their synthesis and separation. Of these methods, those based on heterogeneous platforms present an unparalleled opportunity as they allow for the source of the chirality to be recycled. Chiral hybrid organosilica materials are one particularly interesting class of chiral heterogeneous platforms that creates a synergy between well-understood individual chiral molecules and the structural stability and inertness of the inorganic silicon scaffolds. This Focus Review summarizes the recent advances towards the incorporation of chirality into organosilica scaffolds, the synthesis of the chiral building blocks, and their promising applications towards facilitating asymmetric heterogeneous catalysis as well as chiral chromatography.