Direct immobilization of ImCl ionic liquid onto the platelet type SBA-15

Ionic liquid (IL), [N-methylimidazole][Cl] (ImCl), was directly immobilized onto SBA-15 by co-condensation of ionic liquid modified organosilane and sodium metasilicate in the strong acid condition. Disk type, short channelled SBA-15 mesoporous materials were synthesized with controlled channel length from 200 to 500 nm by varying the ratio of organosilane to sodium metasilicate in the precursor solution. The directly immobilized ILs catalyzed the Knoevenagel-condensation reactions and showed strong dependency on the channel length and amount of IL immobilized.