Chinese Journal of Catalysis ›› 2013, Vol. 34 ›› Issue (5): 932-941.DOI: 10.1016/S1872-2067(12)60591-9

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Carbon-coated mesoporous silica functionalized with sulfonic acid groups and its application to acetalization

FANG Lin, ZHANG Kun, CHEN Lu, WU Peng   

  1. Shanghai Key Laboratory of Green Chemistry and Chemical Processes, Department of Chemistry, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
  • Received:2012-12-29 Revised:2013-05-20 Online:2013-05-06 Published:2013-05-06
  • Supported by:

    This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (220925310, 21003050, U1162102), the National Key Technology R&D Program (2012BAE05B02), and the Shanghai Leading Academic Discipline Project (B409).

Abstract:

The inner surface of mesoporous silica SBA-15 was coated by a homogeneous polycyclic carbon layer through controlled carbonization of furfuryl alcohol. The composite was subsequently functionalized with sulfonic acid (-SO3H) groups to form a strong solid acid material, with a tunable acid site density in the range of 0.38-0.84 mmol/g by varying the thickness of the carbon layer. Structural analysis and reaction data revealed that the solid acid catalyst exhibited high reactivity towards the acetalization of aldehydes or ketones with alcohols because of the uniform carbon coating of the mesopores, high acid site density, and its mechanical stability.

Key words: Solid acid, Mesoporous carbon, Sulfonic acid group, Acetalization