Sol-gel microspheres doped with glycerol: a structural insight in light of forthcoming applications in the polyurethane foam industry.

Invited for this months cover are the groups of Professor Mario Pagliaro at the Istituto per lo Studio dei Materiali Nanostrutturati in Palermo and Professor Laura Ilharco at the Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisboa. The cover picture shows a- GreenCaps- microcapsule breaking and releasing encapsulated glycerol after the organosilica microspheres are sprayed from a pressurized polyurethane foam can. This shows how glycerol acts as a solid curing agent, promoting crosslinking of partially polymerized diphenylmethane diisocyanate. For more details, see the Full Paper on p. 120 ff.