Catalytic activity of mesoporous catalysts in Friedel–Crafts benzylation of benzene

Abstract

Different samples of metal-incorporated MCM-41 were prepared and used as catalysts in Friedel-Craft's benzylation of benzene. The catalytic performance was evaluated by off-line GC analysis. Fe-MCM-41 exhibited excellent activity, the sample with Si/Fe ratio = 10 showed 90% conversion with 95% selectivity towards diphenylmethane within a few minutes. Generally, the activity per Fe-site was an order of magnitude higher for the samples containing a combination of Fe 2 O 3 nano-particles and isolated Fe 3+ sites. A synergy of two catalytic centers (particles and isolated sites) is proposed to explain the high performance of the highly loaded samples. The catalytic performance of Fe-MCM-41 was superior to other metalcontaining MCM-41 (e.g. Ga, Sn, and Ti) catalysts, or other Fe-containing mesoporous materials (e.g. Fe-HMS).

Heteropolyacid generated on the surface of iron phosphate nanotubes: structure and catalytic activity studies

“…It was reported that Fe-MCM-41 (ref. 35) exhibited 90% conversion of benzyl chloride with 95% selectivity towards diphenylmethane; however, this catalyst has a major disadvantage that almost 33% of the iron atoms have been removed from the framework of MCM-41 during reaction cycles. Sun et al 36 reported that 10 wt% iron oxide loaded SBA-15 catalyst showed 100% conversion of benzyl chloride aer a reaction time of 30 min and 15 wt% iron oxide loaded SBA-15 gave 100% conversion aer are action time of 45 min.…”

A new class of solid Lewis acid catalysts based on interlayer expansion of layered silicates of the RUB-36 type with heteroatoms

“…It is however possible that catalytically inactive Fe species leach, as has been observed for the mesoporous Fe-containing silica materials. 45,46 To exclude this possibility, elemental analysis of the catalyst aer reaction was performed. For Fe 2 O 3 -ZSM-5, the Si/Fe ratio increased from 194 before reaction to 283 aer reaction, indicating that around 30% of the Fe has leached.…”

Fe3+‐Exchanged Titanate Nanotubes: A New Kind of Highly Active Heterogeneous Catalyst for Friedel‐Crafts Type Benzylation

“…In recent years, mesoporous silica materials emerged as ideal catalyst supports because of their high surface area, which have been considered to be favorable for the dispersion of Fe-containing sites [2,9,11,[18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]. As expected, these Fe-containing mesoporous silica materials are very active for Friedel-Crafts type benzylation.…”