An aerosol‐assisted sol–gel method is used to prepare mesoporous tin silicate catalysts that exhibit a record activity in the synthesis of ethyl lactate from dihydroxyacetone and ethanol. The method is based on the formation of an aerosol from a solution of precursors and surfactant. During the fast drying of the droplets, the surfactant self‐assembles and the Sn‐silica matrix is formed by polycondensation reactions. After calcination, the resulting material is composed of a true tin‐silicon mixed oxide in the form of spherical microparticles with calibrated mesopores of 5–6 nm. Sn species are incorporated in the silica network, mainly in the form of single sites. This makes these catalysts highly active for the targeted reaction, as shown by record turnover numbers. The catalyst is recyclable and truly heterogeneous as it can be reused for several cycles and it does not leach.

Single walled carbon nanotubes were functionalized with imidazolium based salts and successfully used as catalysts for the conversion of CO2. The novel materials displayed excellent catalytic activity.

The aerosol-assisted sol–gel process was used to synthesize in a straightforward one-pot procedure a series of methyl-functionalized tin silicates with different degrees of methylation. The successful incorporation of isolated Sn as single site within the silica framework was confirmed via 119Sn solid-state NMR measurements, while 29Si and 13C solid-state magic-angle-spinning NMR experiments revealed a degree of methylation close to the theoretical value, hence proving the efficacy of the adopted cosynthetic approach. These materials were tested as catalysts in the synthesis of ethyl lactate from dihydroxyacetone and ethanol. The methylated solids display enhanced performances in terms of both activity and selectivity compared to the nonmethylated analogues, highlighting a strong beneficial role of surface hydrophobicity. Under proper conditions a total conversion and a selectivity higher than 95% were achieved. Moreover, the efficient separation and reuse of the heterogeneous catalyst as well as the possibility of an easily recover of the reaction solvent result in a very low waste production protocol with an exceptionally low E-factor.

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Two series of functionalized mesoporous Ga-silicates were prepared in a straightforward and sustainable one-pot procedure using different alkyl-silanes. The efficacy of the adopted co-synthetic approach based on aerosol processing has...