B-SBA-15-SO3H: A versatile mesoporous catalyst

Abstract

Novel approach was developed towards the synthesis of heterogeneous mesoporous B-SBA-15-SO3H acid catalysts. That is: B-SBA-15 materials were hydrothermally synthesized by using three different boron sources (boric acid, trisiopropylborate and potassium borohydride) and then post-synthetically functionalized with sulfonic acid to test their catalytic activity for the esterification of propionic acid with methanol. Mesoporous and amorphous character of the materials as well as the incorporation of the boron into the framework were verified by XRD, N-2-adsorption/desorption, ICP-OES, SEM and FT-IR techniques. All of the boron incorporated acid catalysts showed better activity than pure SBA-15-SO3H for methyl propionate synthesis. Combining the advantageous of hydrothermal synthesis and post functionalization, the obtained B-SBA-15-SO3H catalysts should present versatile catalytic properties in terms of both catalytic activity and reusability. Boron incorporation and post functionalization encourage the structural configuration, since the grafted catalytically active groups may experience similar environments and be isolated from each other.