Mo-doping induced acidity modulation in mesoporous tin phosphate with enhanced recyclability for catalyzing toluene alkylation with benzyl chloride
摘要
Mo-doped mesoporous tin phosphate (Mo–SnP) was synthesized via a hydrothermal method and evaluated for its catalytic activity and recyclability in the liquid-phase alkylation of toluene with benzyl chloride. XRD, FT-IR, TEM, and N2 physisorption characterizations confirmed the uniform incorporation of Mo species into the tin phosphate framework without forming segregated phases. NH3-TPD and DRIFT analyses revealed that Mo doping modulated acidity by reducing strong acid site strength and introducing Lewis acid sites. The optimized 0.2Mo-SnP catalyst demonstrated high activity (119.2 mmol g−1 h−1) in the alkylation of toluene with benzyl chloride, notably maintaining undiminished activity over three cycles, in contrast to undoped SnP, which exhibited over 50% conversion decline within three cycles. TG-DSC and N2 physisorption studies demonstrated that Mo doping mitigated strong adsorption of reaction products, preventing pore blockage during regeneration and preserving structural integrity.
Graphical abstract