Silatrane synthesized from inexpensive oxide precursor, silica and TEA was used as the precursor for MCM-41 synthesis at low temperature because of its stability in aqueous solutions. Using cationic surfactant hexadecyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) as a template, the resulting meso-structure mimics the liquid crystal phase. Varying the surfactant concentration, ion concentration and temperature of the system, changes the structure of the liquid crystal phase, resulting in different pore structures and surface area. After heat treatment, very high surface area mesoporous silica was obtained and characterized using XRD, BET and TEM. XRD and TEM results show a clear picture of hexagonal structure. The surface area is extraordinarily high, up to more than 2400 m(2) g(-1) at a pore volume of 1.29 cm(3) g(-1). However, the pore volume is up to 1.72 cm(3) g(-1) when the surface area is greater than 2100 m(2) g(-1). (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.