Reactive Templates: Doing Chemistry with Pore Walls

The use of porous templates as inert, shape-defining molds is a well-established methodology for the preparation of one-dimensional nanostructures and microstructures. However, the rational exploitation of the intrinsic reactivity of porous templates is largely unexplored. Recent results suggest that this emerging strategy may pave the way for new syntheses routes to wires and tubes made of complex materials that cannot be formed into one-dimensional structures otherwise.