Studies on preparation and selective oxidation activities of chromia-pillared zirconium phenylphosphonate

Chromia-pillared zirconium phenylphosphonate and phosphate were prepared vi a preswelling the layered phosphates by ethylamine prior to the intercalati on of the pillaring species. The Cr contents of the pillared materials reac h 22.5% similar to 36.5%. They have surface areas in the range of 316 simil ar to 462m(2)/g and narrow pore size distributions with > 70% mesoporosity. The diameters of the mesopores are centered around 2nm. The pillared zirco nium phenylphosphonates are thermally more stable than the pillared zirconi um phosphates. The chromia - pillared materials are efficient catalysts for selective oxidation of benzene,toluene, ethylbenzene, cyclohexane, cyclohe xene, n-heptane acid n-butanol using 30% H2O2 as oxidant. Their catalytic a ctivities are much higher than those of CrAPO-11 and CrMCM-41.