Research on clathrates from Pérez-Ramírez group at ICIQ reaches the cover in Angewandte Chemie International Edition

The article Towards functional clathrates: Size and composition-controlled octadecasil nanocrystals by desilication (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2008, 47, 7913-7917), co-authored by Javier Pérez-Ramírez, Sònia Abelló, Luis A. Villaescusa and Adriana Bonilla has been distinguished as a Hot Paper and is highlighted on the Cover of Angewandte Chemie on this issue, a distinction that for the second time is awarded to the Institute this year.Like sucking and chewing sweets, the action of sodium hydroxide leads to clathrasil nanocrystals by selective silicon dissolution. The team of Pérez-Ramírez shows that the size, porosity, and composition of octadecasil crystals can be tuned by the alkaline conditions. This top-down approach could lead to functional clathrasils, opening a new window for research on this type of materials both in terms of post-synthesis modification and application in catalysis.