Perfluorinated alkylsulfonic acid functionalized periodic mesostructured organosilica: A new acidic catalyst Original Research Article

Fluorinated alkylsulfonic acid functionalized periodic mesostructured organosilica was one-pot synthesized using 1,2-bis(trimethoxysilyl)ethane (BTME) and a perfluorinated alkylsulfonic acid silane (PSTE) under acidic conditions using Pluronic 123 as surfactant. Wormhole mesostructures with surface areas up to 500 m2/g and narrow pore size distribution (around 4.1 nm) were obtained. This work thus provides an example of one-pot synthesis for new functionalized PMO acid catalysts. The physico-chemical properties were monitored by N2 adsorption, XRD, thermogravimetric analysis, 13C, 19F and 29Si MAS NMR and proton conduction. Liquid phase self-condensation of heptanal was performed at 75 °C in the presence of these catalysts, and results were compared with those obtained with several other heterogeneous hydrophobic acid catalysts.