Preparation of Fe2O3 doped SBA-15 for vapor phase ortho-position C-alkylation of phenol with methanol

A series of Fe2O3 doped SBA-15 materials were prepared via an equivalent-volume impregnation method. The resultant Fe2O3-containing SBA-15 materials showed good performance in phenol methylation. Under the same conditions, the mesoporous catalyst with 5 wt.% Fe2O3 showed the superior catalytic activity to that of pristine α-Fe2O3 even at lower reaction temperature (320 °C vs. 350 °C). The elevated catalytic activity observed for the mesoporous catalyst could be due to high level dispersion of Fe2O3 species in the mesoporous framework. Furthermore, the mesoporous catalyst possessed long lifetimes, which could be used continuously for 2000 h without significant loss of activity.