Synergistic catalysis of isolated Fe3+ and Fe2O3 on FeOx/HZSM-5 catalysts for Friedel–Crafts benzylation of benzene

FeOx/HZSM-5 catalyst with 8 wt.% Fe-loading (8-FeZ) exhibited significantly higher reactivity in the benzylation of benzene with benzyl chloride than FeOx/HZSM-5 catalyst with 2.5 wt.% Fe-loading (2.5-FeZ) because the synergistic catalysis between isolated Fe3+ and superfine Fe2O3 occurred on 8-FeZ in the reaction.