Nanoporous material for aldehydes with direct optical transduction

1. A method for detecting and/or assaying and/or trapping at least one aldehyde, comprising bringing a gas stream into contact with a solid and transparent material comprising a solid and transparent nanoporous metal oxide sol-gel matrix, said matrix containing at least one probe molecule bearing at least one reactive functional group which can react with an aldehyde functional group, said reactive functional group being selected from the group consisting of enaminones, β-diketone/amine pairs, and salts thereof.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 , characterized in that the aldehyde is chosen from formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, propionaldehyde, butyraldehyde, acrolein, pentanal, hexanal and benzaldehyde.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 , characterized in that it additionally comprises a step of directly analyzing the variation of the spectral properties of at least one probe molecule of the solid and transparent by at least one spectrophotometry technique.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 , characterized in that the enaminones correspond to the formula (I):

in which:

R 1 corresponds to a hydrogen, an alkyl or aryl radical;

R 2 corresponds to a hydrogen;

R 3 corresponds to a hydrogen, an alkyl or aryl radical;

R 4 corresponds to a hydrogen, an alkyl or aryl radical; and

R 5 corresponds to a hydrogen.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4 , wherein R 1 and R 3 are independently a methyl, ethyl, isopropyl, butyl, isobutyl, tert-butyl, pentyl or phenyl radical and R 4 a hydrogen.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5 , wherein R 1 is a methyl radical and R 3 a methyl or phenyl radical.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the solid and transparent nanoporous metal oxide sol-gel matrix is produced from at least one metal oxide of formula (IV):

M(X) m (OR 8 ) n (R 9 ) p

in which:

M corresponds to a metal chosen from silicon, aluminum, titanium, zirconium, niobium, vanadium, yttrium and cerium;

R 8 and R 9 correspond independently to an alkyl or aryl radical;

n, m and p are integers, such that their sum is equal to the valency of M and that n is greater than or equal to 2; and

X is a halogen.

8. The method as claimed in claim 7 , characterized in that M is silicon or zirconium.

9. The method as claimed in claim 7 , wherein R 8 and R 9 are independently methyl or ethyl radicals.

10. The method as claimed in claim 7 , wherein X is chlorine.

11. The method as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the metal oxide is Si(OMe) 4 .

12. A solid and transparent material capable of reacting with at least one gaseous aldehyde, comprising a solid and transparent nanoporous metal oxide sol-gel matrix produced from at least one metal oxide of formula (IV):

M(X) m (OR 8 ) n (R 9 ) p

in which:

M corresponds to a metal chosen from silicon, aluminum, titanium, zirconium, niobium, vanadium, yttrium and cerium;

R 8 and R 9 correspond independently to an alkyl or aryl radical;

n, m and p are integers, such that their sum is equal to the valency of M and that n is greater than or equal to 2; and

X is a halogen;

said solid and transparent matrix containing at least one probe molecule bearing at least one functional group that is reactive with an aldehyde functional group, said reactive functional group being selected from the group consisting of enaminones, β-diketone/amine pairs, and salts thereof.

13. The material as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the radicals R 8 and R 9 of the metal oxide are independently methyl or ethyl radicals and that the probe molecule is an enaminone.

14. The material as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the metal oxide is Si(OMe) 4 and the probe molecule is Fluoral-P.

15. The material as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the at least one gaseous aldehyde comprises formaldehyde.