Oxidation of anisole over MCM-48 materials modified by incorporation of transition and inner transition metals

Abstract

Aluminosilicates with well-ordered MCM-48 mesostructures were synthesized by one step and two step methods. Single step method was found to be appropriate for metal incorporation. This method was applied to synthesize transition and inner transition metal incorporated MCM-48. These modified MCM-48 materials were characterized by a variety of techniques including XRD, FTIR, DRS-UV-Vis, TGA, N₂ adsorption and SEM. Post-synthesis modification of the SiMCM-48 material was also done by impregnating 1%, 3% and 5% vanadium without compromising the integrity of the cubic mesostructure. The transition and inner transition metal incorporated MCM-48 materials were tested for oxidation reaction and were found to exhibit far better activities in anisole oxidation than SiMCM-48. Among the metal introduced MCM-48, vanadium–MCM-48 samples showed highest activities.