Properties and reactivity of zinc-folded sheet mesoporous materials

Mesoporous material incorporating zinc with different Si/Zn ratios = 95, 65, and 20 have been synthesized by intercalating kanemite using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide as the intercalating agent and zinc nitrate. The resulting materials were characterized by different techniques such as: inductively coupled plasma technique, XRD, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller, and a temperature-programmed-desorption of pyridine. The catalytic performance was studied in the vapor phase tert-butylation of anisole with tert-butanol at different temperatures under atmospheric pressure. The results indicate that Zn-FSM-16 (20) was found to be more active than its relatives. The major products are found to be 4-tert-butyl anisole (4-TBA), 2-tert-butyl anisole (2-TBA) and 2,4 di-tert-butyl-anisole (2,4-DTBA).