In order to increase the adsorption amount of neutral amino acids on mesoporous silica, amino acid phenylalanine (Phe) was selected as model adsorbate to investigate its adsorption on a novel organic-inorganic hybrid mesoporous material that was made without template agents. Based on remarkable characteristics of this mesoporous material including super-hydrophobic surface, large specific surface area and pore volume, and extraordinary hydrophobic region, the adsorption of Phe on this adsorbent was highly satisfactory. When CH3OH-H2O binary solvent was used as the adsorption solvent with the volume ratio of CH3OH to H2O being 50∶50, the maximum adsorption amount of Phe reached 0.827 mmol/L, much higher than that (0.122 mmol/L) of Phe adsorption on traditionally prepared CH3-functionalized mesoporous silica. In this study, the adsorption mechanism of Phe was also discussed.

Key words: adsorption, neutral amino acid, mesoporous silica, super-hydrophobic