Investigation of the catalytic activity of extracted and smoothly calcined arenesulfonic modified SBA-15 materials

A thorough FTIR investigation of the thermal stability of arenesulfonic modified SBA-15 solids revealed that most of the organic functional groups are preserved until 400 °C. These results have been confirmed by the thermogravimetric analyses of the corresponding materials calcined at 200 °C (EC-200) or 400 °C (EC-400), respectively. Such studies showed that the smoother calcination procedure (200 °C) is appropriate in order to complete the removal of Pluronic P123 in the extracted sample (E). Moreover, it can be noticed that such calcination treatment did not alter tremendously the catalytic performances of the resulting solids. Both E and EC-200 materials exhibited high activities in the liquid phase condensation of 2-methylfuran with acetone and in the decomposition of cumene hydroperoxide into phenol.

FTIR studies showed that arenesulfonic modified SBA-15 solids display a good thermal stability between 200 and 400 °C. These results were confirmed by the thermogravimetric analyses of the calcined materials, i.e. EC-200 and EC-400.Both the extracted (E) and smoothly calcined solids (EC-200) exhibited high activities in the liquid phase condensation of 2-methylfuran with acetone and in the decomposition of cumene hydroperoxide into phenol. Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide