Zr mesoporous materials with different Si/Zr ratio were synthesized by the
surfactant-templated method involving cetyl trimethyl
ammonium bromide (
CTAB) as template and tetraethyl ortho
silicate (TEOS) as organic source of
silicon. The synthesized materials were labeled as SiZrMx (where x is Si/Zr = 10, 20 and 30). The BET analysis showed bimodal distribution of pores in SiZrMx structure. An attempt was made to generate super acidity on SiZrM20 by sulfation using
sulfuric acid and
ammonium sulfate (wt% = 4, 8 and 12). The NH3-TPD results revealed the presence of strong acidity in sulfated Zr-MCM-41. To understand the nature of acidity in Sulfated Zr-MCM-41, the efficiency of the materials is investigated in
dehydration of
Oximes. The industrially important materials
caprolactam and intermediate
nitrile were synthesized from their
oximes in liquid phase system. Due to strong acidity in sulfated Zr-MCM-41, fast deactivation was observed during the synthesis of
caprolactam but, the catalyst showed 96%
nitrile selectivity. The strong acidity and medium strong acidity favoured the formation of
nitrile and
caprolactam respectively. This study revealed the molecular sieves were effective and eco-friendly solid
acid catalysts for synthesizing
caprolactam and
nitrile.