Synthesis of hydrothermally stable, hierarchically mesoporous aluminosilicate Al-SBA-1 and their catalytic properties

Hydrothermally stable mesoporous aluminosilicates Al-SBA-1 with hierarchical pore structure have been successfully synthesized under alkaline condition at 120 °C by employing organic mesomorphous complexes of polyelectrolyte (poly(acrylic acid) (PAA)) and cationic surfactant (hexadecyl pyridinium chloride (CPC)) as template. The Si/Al ratio could be as high as 5 and the incorporation of Al into the silica framework did not disturb the well-ordered cubic Pmn mesostructure. Meanwhile, the incorporation of Al could greatly increase the specific surface area and pore volume of the samples. The Al-SBA-1 materials exhibited a high hydrothermal stability and remained stable even after being treated in boiling water for 10 days. The catalytic activity of the Al-SBA-1 materials was investigated by employing the Friedel–Crafts alkylation of toluene with benzyl alcohol as a model reaction and they exhibited excellent catalytic property due to the incorporated acid sites and the hierarchically mesoporous structure.