Nanostructured Silica-Based Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Materials-Evidence for Self-Organization of a Xerogel Prepared by Sol-Gel Polymerization.

A hydrolytic polycondensation reaction of a rigid, rodlike nonmesomorphous precursor leads to an isotropic sol and then an anisotropic birefringent xerogel (see scheme). Optical and X-ray structural analyses demonstrate a short-range order and the possibility of a crystalline order.