Patent ID: 6946109

Claim:
A method for forming a lamellar mesoporous silica composition which comprises: (a) reacting in a reaction mixture a lower alkyl tetraorthosilicate with an amine surfactant, wherein the surfactant is of the formula: RNH(CH 2 ) y NHR 1 wherein y is 1 to 4, R is an alkyl moiety containing 10 to 20 carbon atoms and R 1 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, methyl, ethyl and (CH 2 ) m NH 2 wherein m is 1, 2, 3 or 4, to form the lamellar mesoporous silica composition; and (b) separating the composition from the reaction mixture; (c) removing the surfactant from (b) to provide the lamellar mesoporous silica composition, wherein cross-linking of SiO 4 tetrahedra of the silica to adjacent silicon sites (Q 4 ) and to three adjacent silicon sites (Q 3 ) corresponds to a Q 4 /Q 3 ratio of SiO 4 to SiO 3 of at least 5, and wherein the composition has at least one x-ray diffraction line corresponding to a basal spacing of about 4 to 10 nm.