The synthesis of a new inorganic–organic hybrid material in a non-aqueous medium from acid–base hydrolysis of octadecyltri(amino)silane with tri(hydroxypropyl)phosphine, is reported. Rh(I) metal centers are easily introduced into the network by reacting it with the dimer, [Rh(μ-Cl)(1,5-C 8 H 12 )] 2 , and the resulting organometallic–inorganic hybrid shows preference for the fully hydrogenated product (bibenzyl) in the catalytic hydrogenation of diphenylacetylene.
