Since the discovery of a surfactant directed self-assembly approach for the fabrication of mesoporous silica in 1992,increasing attention has been focused on the design and synthesis of mesostructured functional materials.Organic functionalization is becoming a major topic in this research field,since highly ordered mesostructured organic-inorganic hybrids offer novel functionalities and enhanced performance over their individual components.We begin with a brief overview of the three fundamental methods(post-synthetic grafting technique,co-condensation method,and preparation of periodic mesoporous organosilicas) for the preparation of organically functionalized mesostructured silica,and focus on one of the most promising approaches,which herein was named as functional-template directed self-assembly(FTDSA) approach,and in the eyes of the authors it has a special position in the preparation of this class of hybrid materials.A comprehensive overview of the state of research in the area of FTDSA and its potential applications will be given.
