Highly ordered and hydrothermally stable cubic mesoporous silicas SBA-I (Pm (3) over barn mesophase) have been synthesized over a broad temperature range using tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) and cetyltriethylammonium bromide (CTEABr) as silicon source and template agent, respectively, under highly acidic conditions via addition of sugar molecules such as D-fructose or sucrose as an auxiliary agent. Various synthesis parameters such as D-fructose content, acid concentration and reaction time have been optimized under different synthesis conditions in order to obtain highly ordered mesoporous silica SBA-I materials with good hydrothermal stability. In contrast to the conventional synthesis methods requiring low synthesis temperature, this strategy allows the preservation of the SBA-I mesophase under high temperature synthesis conditions and leads to a highly cross-linked silica framework. In particular, the framework locations of the derivatives of D-fructose molecules and their interactions with the surfactant molecules were investigated by two-dimensional Ill H exchange NMR. The present NMR results confirmed that the derivatives of D-fructose are in close spatial proximity to the surfactant molecules to form stable spherical micelles with adequate curvatures for the formation of cubic mesophase in a wide range of synthesis conditions.
