FE-CONTAINING MESOPOROUS MOLECULAR-SIEVES MATERIALS - VERY ACTIVE FRIEDEL-CRAFTS ALKYLATION CATALYSTS

Benzylation of benzene has been conducted over Fe-containing zeolite m olecular sieve materials prepared by different methods and exhibiting different pore sizes. It was shown that the mesoporous Fe-containing m aterials were very active benzylation catalysts with a monoalkylated p roduct selectivity of 100%, and had better stability than the previous ly reported iron pillared clays (FePILCs). Temperature and pore size w ere two critical factors influencing the activities of the investigate d catalysts. A redox mechanism can explain the observed experimental r esults. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.