Enhanced metal loading in SBA-15-type catalysts facilitated by salt addition: Synthesis, characterization and catalytic epoxide alcoholysis activity of molybdenum incorporated porous silica

• Addition of diammonium hydrogen phosphate salt during synthesis increases incorporation of molybdenum into the silica matrix.
• DHP addition increased the long range orderliness of mesostructure and enlarged pore size.
• Synthesized materials were effective catalysts for alcoholysis of epoxides at ambient conditions in short amounts of time.

We report a novel method to increase the metal loading in SBA-15 silica matrix via direct synthesis. It was demonstrated through the synthesis and characterization of a series of molybdenum containing SBA-15 mesoporous silica catalysts prepared with and without diammonium hydrogen phosphate (DHP) as an additive. Catalysts prepared with DHP show a 2–3 times increase in incorporation of molybdenum in the silica matrix and pore size enlargement. The synthesized catalysts were characterized using nitrogen sorption, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and inductively coupled plasma–optical emission spectroscopy (ICP–OES). The catalytic activity of catalysts prepared with DHP for alcoholysis of epoxides was superior than the catalyst prepared without DHP. Alcoholysis of epoxides was demonstrated for a range of alcohols and epoxides under ambient conditions in as little as 30 min with high selectivity.

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