Remarkable effect of pore size on the catalytic activity of mesoporous silica for the acetalization of cyclohexanone with methanol.
The catalytic activity of mesoporous silica (MCM-41) for the acetalization of cyclohexanone shows a volcano-shaped dependence on the pore diameter. The diameter of the cyclohexanone molecule is ca. 0.75 nm, while its acetalization with methanol was well accelerated on MCM-41 with a pore diameter of approximately 1.9 nm, and smaller or larger pores were not suitable for the catalysis. The catalytic activity was independent of the Al concentration.
Iwamoto
Masakazu
M
Chemical Resources Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 4259 Nagatsuta, Midori-ku, Yokohama 226-8503, Japan. iwamoto@res.titech.ac.jp
Tanaka
Yasuhiro
Y
Sawamura
Naoki
N
Namba
Seitaro
S