HIERARCHICAL INORGANIC MATERIALS

The synthesis of hierarchical inorganic-organic composites using biolo gical design principles is a domain where materials chemists are usual ly out-smarted by Nature. The author summarizes and discusses the rece nt contributions made by the groups of Geoffrey Ozin in Toronto (Canad a) and Stephen Mann in Bath (UK) to the generation of matter with a st riking resemblance to the highly complex forms characteristic of inorg anic biological structures,