Mesoporous solid
strong bases are quite attractive due to their
good catalytic performance for applications as environmentally friendly
catalysts in various reactions. However, pretty harsh conditions are
usually compulsory for the fabrication of strong basicity by using
traditional thermal activation (e.g., 700 °C for the activation
of base precursor KNO3 supported on mesoporous Al2O3). This is energy intensive and harmful to the mesoporous
structure. In this study, we report a strategy of endowing supports
with reducibility (ESWR) by doping low-valence Cr3+ into
mesoporous Al2O3, so that the activation temperature
for basicity generation is decreased significantly. Fascinatingly,
KNO3 on mesoporous Al2O3 can be motivated
to basic sites completely at the temperature of 400 °C via the
ESWR strategy, which is much lower than the conventional thermal activation
(700 °C). We have demonstrated that the redox reciprocity between
KNO3 and Cr3+ is responsible for the low-temperature
conversion, and Cr6+ is formed quantitatively as the oxidation
product. The obtained solid bases possessing ordered mesostructure
and strong basicity provide promising candidates for base-catalyzed
synthesis of dimethyl carbonate via transesterification. The catalytic
activity is obviously higher than a typical solid base like MgO as
well as a series of reported basic catalysts containing alkali metal
and alkaline-earth metal oxides.