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Abstract: Tetramethylorthosilicate (tetramethoxysilane; TMOS), a common sol-gel precursor, is found to undergo spontaneous hydrolysis and condensation reactions in a predominantly chloroform/methacrylic acid solution, i.e., the major components of a traditional molecular imprinted polymer (MIP) recipe, without the addition of water. The formation of the shorter chain alkoxyoligosilanes is monitored by GC-MS and possible mechanisms for their formation are proposed. While the data collected indicates that the classical sol-gel route may explain the formation of the majority of the silicates, a secondary mechanism may also play a role. The finding that TMOS can undergo sol-gel chemistry in this hydrophobic medium may support a novel synthetic strategy for the preparation of hybrid MIPs (HMIPs): the in situ, serial polymerizations of the inorganic and organic components, respectively. Preliminary evidence to support the potential effectiveness of this strategy is presented
Author keywords: silica, Silicates, Polymers and organics, Organics-inorganic hybrids, Sol-gels (xerogels), Solution chemistry