Mesoporous silica nanomaterial-supported Fe(III) catalysts for epoxide ring-opening reaction: effects of functionalization solvents and ligand on catalysis

The interest in the development of new heterogeneous catalysts remains unabated because of their long proven uses in industries as well their prospects of applications in several new and existing industrial and commercial processes. In this respect, mesoporous silica nanomaterials provide a unique advantage for making new and better heterogeneous catalysts because of their surface silanols, which allow for not only for further functionalization but also as catalytic moieties themselves. However, the lack of full knowledge regarding their structure-property relationship has often limited the synthesis of mesoporous silica-based heterogeneous catalysts for a range of catalytic applications. In this project, the effects of different solvents on the density of grafted catalytic groups on mesoporous silica (SBA-15) and the catalytic activity of the resulting materials have been investigated by grafting N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane (diamine) and 2-(diphenylphosphino)ethyltriethoxysilane (pph2) in toluene and 2-propanol. This procedure produced two materials with diamine and pph2 ligands, respectively. The materials were then coordinated with Fe(III), and the catalytic properties and activities of the resulting materials were tested for epoxide ring opening reaction. The effect of the ligands as well as the indirect influence of solvent dependent grafting has been discussed.M.S.Includes bibliographical referencesby Ahmed Jaffa