Developing recyclable, inexpensive, heterogeneous catalysts are of interest in the field of catalysis. The purpose of this research was to synthesize high surface area, porous zirconia catalyst for condensation reactions. To do this, two techniques were used to synthesize the zirconia. First, zirconium was coated onto a porous silica template. For this technique, the loading of zirconia on the silica was altered. For the second method, ionic liquids were used to directly synthesize porous zirconia/silica catalyst. Two different ionic liquids were used with varying amounts of zirconia added to each sample. The samples were characterized using Atomic Absorption spectroscopy, nitrogen physisorption at 77K, and X-ray diffraction. The catalytic activity was measured through the reaction of acetone with furfural as monitored by GS/MS.

Silica templated zirconia catalysts for condensation reactions

251st National Meeting (2016)

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