Electrochemical Preparation of New Organosilicone Compounds for Functionalizing of Mesoporous Silica

Abstract

Electrochemistry has been introduced as a powerful tool in order to prepare new organometallic reagents for functionalizing of mesoporous silica. Preparation of the reagents was based on electrochemical oxidation of dihydroxybenzene derivatives in the presence of 3-(trimethoxysilyl)-1-propanethiol as a nucleophile. The mechanisms of electrochemical reactions were studied by voltammetric studies. Mesoporous silica SBA-15 was also synthesized in this work through sol-gel hydrothermal method using Genapol PF-10 as structure directing compound. The prepared mesoporous silica was characterized by FT-IR analysis and Barrett–Joiner–Halenda (BJH) pore size and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area measurement methods using N2 adsorption–desorption isotherm. Finally, the organometallic reagent was covalently grafted on the surface of mesoporous silica. Functionalizing of this material with the new reagent was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. The functionalized mesoporous silica by new reagent can be utilized in biological applications.

Desulfurization of Real Diesel Fuel onto Mesoporous Silica MCM-41 Implementing Batch Adsorption Process: Equilibrium, Kinetics, and Thermodynamic Studies

“…The linear form is expressed by eq. ( 4): (4) Where, is the number of analyses upon the surface of absorbent (mg/g), K f is the constant related to the adsorption capacity of the sorbent (mg/g), and 1/n is the value that gives the favorability indication of the process of adsorption. It's a measure of adsorption intensity and surface heterogeneity that refers to the value of 1/n (0.1-1), representing favorable sorption.…”

“…According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), sulfur levels in diesel oil should not exceed 15 mg/L [3]. The same regulations allow no more than 15% of aromatic compounds in diesel fuel [4]. The removal of organosulfur compounds from diesel fuel is a prevalent problem in the petroleum sector, and it has been researched by [5,6].…”

“…Hydrodesulfurization (HDS) is now employed to decrease sulfur levels in liquid fuels [7]. This technique requires high pressure (3)(4)(5)(6), high temperatures (300-400°C), and a large amount of hydrogen [8]. Furthermore, this method cannot reduce thiophene sulfur compounds, such as dibenzothiophene (DBT), benzothiophene (BT), alkylated DBTs, and 4,6-dimethyl dibenzothiophene (DMDBT).…”