Preparation and characterisation of amorphous mesoporous aluminophosphate and metal aluminophosphate as an efficient heterogeneous catalyst for transesterification reaction

Abstract Preparation, characterisation of pure aluminophosphate and aluminophosphate modified with different transition metals (V, Fe, Co Ni & Cu) and their catalytic activity in mono/dibenzyl substituted malonates synthesis are explained. The materials were prepared by the coprecipitation method in the absence of any structure-directing species and characterized for their composition, crystalline nature, total surface acidity, specific surface area pore diameter and pore volume by different techniques. Catalytic activity of the materials was investigated in transesterification of diethylmalonate with benzyl alcohol in liquid phase. Pure aluminophosphate resulted only in benzyl ethylmalonate whereas the incorporation of transition metals favored the formation of both benzyl ethylmalonate and dibenzylmalonate. Catalytic activity parallels the surface acidity and mesoporosity of the catalysts. The effect of the molar ratio of reactants, amount of catalyst, and reaction time on the conversion of diethyl malonate and transester yield has been studied. The highest activity of iron aluminophosphate is attributed to its mesoporous nature with uniform pore size distribution, higher surface acidity and surface area. Further, the scope and generality of iron aluminophosphate as a catalyst in the transesterification was studied using various aliphatic, alicyclic and aromatic alcohols. The catalysts could be recycled by retaining most of its initial activity.