Synthesis and Characterization of Mesoporous Aluminum Silicate as a Remarkable Solid Acid Catalyst for Alkylation of Phenol with 1-Octene

Mesoporous aluminum silicate molecular sieves with Si/Al molar ratios of 25, 50, 100, and 150 were synthesized from alu-minum isopropoxide, tetraethylorthosilicate, and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide by the sol-gel method using acetylacetone as the chelating agent. The results of X-ray diffraction, N2 adsorption, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, and 27Al nuclear mag-netic resonance showed that a mesoporous molecular sieve with a wormhole framework structure was formed. The synthesized molecular sieve with a Si/Al molar ratio of 25 successfully catalyzed the alkylation of phenol with 1-octene at 160°C in liquid phase to the monoal-kyl-substituted product quantitatively.