Cascade reaction engineering on zirconia-supported mesoporous MFI zeolites with tunable Lewis-Bronsted acid sites: a case of the one-pot conversion of furfural to γ-valerolactone.

ABSTRACT: Catalytic cascade reactions are strongly desired as a potential means of combining multistep reactions into a single catalytic reactor. Appropriate catalysts composed of multi-reactive sites to catalyze cascade reactions in a sequential fashion are central to such efforts. Here, we demonstrate a bifunctional zeolite catalyst with close proximity of Brønsted and Lewis acid sites through the synthesis of a mesoporous ZrO₂[Al]MFI nanosponge (NS). The unique mesopores of the MFI-NS allow the confinement of zirconium oxide clusters (Lewis acid sites, LA) within the few-unit-cell-thin MFI aluminosilicate zeolite wall (Brønsted acid sites, BA). Such a structure is clearly distinct from the conventional MFI zeolite, where the agglomeration of zirconium oxide clusters onto the external s

SUBMITTER: Kim KD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9056918 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature