Synthesis of micro-mesoporous molecular sieve ZSM-5/SBA-15: tuning aluminium content for tert-butylation of phenol

Micro-mesoporous ZSM-5/SBA-15 molecular sieve was derived from mesoporous molecular sieves SBA-15 by hydrothermal crystallization approach. The silica-alumina ratio significantly affects the structure and catalytic performance of ZSM-5/SBA-15. When the nSi/nAl is less than 25, the two-dimensional hexagonal pore structure of SBA-15 keeps intact with relatively low crystallinity of the pore wall. However, when the nSi/nAl is larger than 50, the SBA-15 pores are severely damaged. When nSi/nAl is 25, the catalyst ZSM-5/SBA-15 retains relatively good pore structure and shows excellent catalytic performance with 96.2% phenol conversion and 53.5% selectivity to 2,4-ditert-butyl phenol in the tert-butylation of phenol.Graphical Abstract SYNOPSIS Micro-mesoporous ZSM-5/SBA-15 molecular sieve was derived from mesoporous molecular sieve SBA-15 by hydrothermal crystallization approach. ZSM-5/SBA-15 (nSi/nAl=25) retains relatively good pore structure and shows excellent catalytic performance with 96.2% phenol conversion and 53.5% selectivity to 2,4-ditert-butyl phenol in the tert-butylation of phenol