Enhanced Friedel-Crafts Benzylation Activity of Bimetallic WSn-KIT-6 Catalysts

Abstract A series of W and Sn-containing KIT-6 mesoporous silicates (designated as WxSn5) with similar Sn (∼5 wt%) and varying W (x = 3 – 23 wt%) loadings were prepared by a one-pot hydrothermal synthesis method. No detectable bulk WO3 species were observed for W loading up to 14 wt% with preferential dispersion of WOx species near SnO2 sites. The WxSn5 materials exhibited superior performance for Friedel-Crafts anisole benzylation with intrinsic rate constants for all WxSn5 catalysts being greater than those without Sn. Based on results from DR-UV-Vis, XRD, XPS, EXAFS techniques, we postulate that the WxSn5 materials contain both isolated WO4/SnO2 and isolated WO4/SiO2 as active species, with the former being more active. The relative populations of these two highly dispersed species dictate the overall catalyst activity. The intrinsic activities of the WxSn5 catalysts are found to scale linearly with total acidity but are mainly dictated by the Lewis acid sites.