Tailoring of porous materials involves not only chemical synthetic techniques for tailoring microscopic properties such as pore size, pore shape, pore connectivity, and pore surface reactivity, but also materials processing techniques for tailoring the meso-and the macroscopic . -properjjes of.bulk materiaIs in the form of fibers, thin films and monoliths. These issues are ..J, addressed in~e context of five specific classes of porous materials: oxide molecular sieves, porous coordination soIids, porous carbons, soI-gel derived oxides, and porous heteropolyanion < salts. Reviews of these specific areas are preceded by a presentation of background material and review of current theoretical approaches to adsorption phenomena. A concluding section outlines cunent research needs and opportunities.