Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Materials for Heterogeneous Catalysis: Development of Highly Structured Multifunctional Silicon Surfaces

Functionalization of single-crystal silicon surfaces is an area of intense research due to the potential use of hybrid organo-silicon materials as the basis for integrating various functionalities, such as molecular recognition devices and biomolecules, including proteins, DNA and carbohydrates. For instance, a wide variety of methods was developed to prepare organic monolayers of 1-alkenes and 1-alkynes on hydrogen-terminated silicon (H-Si).1,2 Taking advantage of the strong Si-C bond, this kind of functionalization can also be used for the covalent immobilization of organometallic complexes onto silicon, thus leading to a powerful approach for the preparation of catalytically active materials, which can be repeatedly recycled. We recently reported the covalent immobilization of a tethered ethylenebis(indenyl) (=EBI) ligand,3 tethered EBI-zirconocenes4 and of biomolecules5 on H-terminated Si(111)-surfaces. In this contribution we present the design of hybrid organic-inorganic silicon surfaces that include different kinds of organometallic catalysts in a highly structured arrangement.