US EPA

1631607 

Journal Article 

Synthesis of ethyl beta-naphthyl ether (neroline) using SO42-/Al-MCM-41 mesoporous molecular sieves 

Selvaraj, M; Pandurangan, A; Seshadri, KS; Sinha, PK; Krishnasamy, V; Lal, KB 

2003 

Yes 

Journal of Molecular Catalysis A: Chemical
ISSN: 1381-1169 

192 

1-2 

153-170 

WOS:000180678800015 

The mesoporous molecular sieves Al-MCM-41 with Si/Al ratio
equal to 30, was synthesized under hydrothermal conditions using cetyltrimethylammonium (CTMA(+))
surfactants as template in the absence of auxiliary organics. The same ratio of Al-MCM-41
materials was impregnated using sulfuric acid, the materials such as sulfated Al-MCM-41 (SO42
-/Al-MCM-41). The mesoporous materials, viz. Al-MCM-41 and SO42-/Al-MCM-41 were characterized
using several techniques, e.g. inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES),
nephelometer, powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform-infra red spectroscopy (FT-IR),
thermogravimetric-differential thermal analyzer (TG-DTA) and nitrogen adsorption measurements.
ICP-AES studies indicated the content of Al in the mesoporous materials. Nephelometer studies
indicated the SO42- content in the SO42-/Al-MCM-41. XRD studies indicated that the calcined
materials of Al-MCM-41 and SO42-/Al-MCM-41 had the standard MCM-41 structure. FT-IR studies
indicated that Al ions were incorporated on the hexagonal mesoporous of Al-MCM-41 and sulfuric
acid was impregnated into hexagonal Al-MCM-41 materials. Thermal stability of the as-synthesized
Al-MCM-41 materials and SO42-/Al-MCM-41 materials was studied using TG/DTA. The surface area,
pore diameter, and pore volume of the mesoporous materials were calculated by BET and BJH
equations, respectively. Crystallinity, surface area, pore diameter and pore volume Of SO42-/Al-
MCM-41 decreased and expelling the aluminum from the Al-MCM-41 framework increased the Lewis
acidity. The catalytic results were compared with those obtained by using sulfuric acid,
amorphous silica-alumina, H-beta, USY and H-ZSM-5 zeolites. The SO42-/Al-MCM-41 catalysts was
found to be more effective in the ethoxylation of hydroxyl biaromatics, for example, in the
production of ethyl P-naphthyl ether (neroline) from P-naphthol using ethyl acetate as the
ethoxylating reagent. The SO42-/Al-MCM-41 catalyst exclusively forms the product of ethyl P-
naphthyl ether and has much higher yields than other catalysts except USY. (C) 2002 Elsevier
Science B.V. All rights reserved. 

Al-MCM-41; SO42-/Al-MCM-41; ethoxylation of beta-naphthol; conversion of beta-naphthol; selectivity of ethyl beta-naphthyl ether