Ormosil is a shorthand phrase for ''organically modified

silica Silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula , most commonly found in nature as quartz and in various living organisms. In many parts of the world, silica is the major constituent of sand. Silica is one ...

'' or ''organically modified

silicate In chemistry, a silicate is any member of a family of polyatomic anions consisting of silicon and oxygen, usually with the general formula , where . The family includes orthosilicate (), metasilicate (), and pyrosilicate (, ). The name is al ...

''. In general, ormosils are produced by adding silane to silica-derived gel during the sol-gel process. They are engineered materials that show great promise in a wide range of applications such as: * alternative to viral vectors for

gene In biology, the word gene (from , ; "...Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a ba ...

delivery, with higher transient

transfection Transfection is the process of deliberately introducing naked or purified nucleic acids into eukaryotic cells. It may also refer to other methods and cell types, although other terms are often preferred: " transformation" is typically used to des ...

efficiencies * suspension media and substrates for next generation

solar cell A solar cell, or photovoltaic cell, is an electronic device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect, which is a physical and chemical phenomenon.

s (quantum dots)and photocatalytic oxidation of water * matrix material for UV-protection coating * matrix material for

laser dye Laser dyes are dyes used as laser medium in a dye laser. Laser dyes include the coumarins and the rhodamines. Coumarin dyes emit in the green region of the spectrum, whereas rhodamine dyes are used for emission in the yellow-red. The color emi ...

-doped organic-inorganic

solid state dye lasers Solid-state dye lasers (SSDL) were introduced in 1967 by Soffer and McFarland. In these solid-state lasers, the gain medium is a laser dye-doped organic matrix such as poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), rather than a liquid solution of the dye. An ...

This technology has been demonstrated as a nonviral

vector Vector most often refers to: *Euclidean vector, a quantity with a magnitude and a direction *Vector (epidemiology), an agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism Vector may also refer to: Mathematic ...

to successfully deliver DNA loads to specifically targeted cells in living animals. Confirmation of results demonstrated that new DNA was working and expressed

s in the animal.

Sono-Ormosil

Sono-Ormosils are organically modified silicates, which were prepared by using high-performance

ultrasound Ultrasound is sound waves with frequency, frequencies higher than the upper audible limit of human hearing range, hearing. Ultrasound is not different from "normal" (audible) sound in its physical properties, except that humans cannot hea ...

during the sol-gel process. When high intense ultrasound is introduced in liquid, cavitation is produced. Due to the cavitational shear forces, molecular weight is lowered by particle size reduction and polydispersity is achieved. Multiphase systems are dispersed and emulsified very efficiently, so that very fine mixtures are prepared. This means that ultrasound accelerates the

polymerization In polymer chemistry, polymerization (American English), or polymerisation (British English), is a process of reacting monomer molecules together in a chemical reaction to form polymer chains or three-dimensional networks. There are many fo ...

significantly over conventional stirring. The resulting polymer shows a higher molecular weight with a lower polydispersity. The product is a molecular-scaled composite material with improved mechanical properties. Sono-Ormosils are distinguished in comparison with conventional gels by a higher density as well as improved thermal stability. This may be a result from the higher degree of polymerization.Rosa-Fox, N. de la; Pinero, M.; Esquivias, L. (2002): Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Materials from Sonogels. 2002nd

References

{{reflist Nanomaterials Organosilicon compounds

Sono-Ormosil

See also

References