Silsesquioxanes

Abstract

The diversity of structures of silsesquioxanes with the general composition (RSiO1.5) n is great and involves amorphous compounds, ladder structures, open cages, and polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) molecules. The obtained structure morphology depends strongly on the applied reaction conditions. The enormous amount of potential substitution patterns combined with the chemical and thermal robust silicon oxide core makes silsesquioxanes ideal materials for a variety of applications. This review covers the structures and synthetic approaches of this type of compounds as well as their properties and potential applications. It focuses on results obtained in the last decade. © 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland.