Synthesis of Sn‐MCM‐41 at Low Temperature: Effect of the Synthesis Parameters on the Structural, Textural, and Catalytic Properties

Abstract

AbstractSn containing MCM‐41 has gained attention for catalytic applications due to the recent popularization of the Sn‐Beta Zeolite as a water‐compatible Lewis acid catalyst. In the synthesis of Sn containing MCM‐41 at high temperature, it has been shown that the silica source, the type of base, and the temperature can affect the structural, textural, and catalytic properties. Herein, a sustainable synthesis of Sn‐MCM‐41 at low temperatures (25 to 75 °C) and using the low (cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, CTAB)/SiO2 molar ratio of 0.11 is proposed. It is also studied the effect of the synthesis temperature, reaction pH, nature of the base, and Sn loading in the structural, textural, and catalytic properties of Sn‐MCM‐41. Sn‐MCM‐41 synthesized with NH4OH as base presented XRD patterns typical for the MCM‐41 structures, while the synthesis using tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAOH) led to porous materials with a low periodicity of the pores. Using both NH4OH or TMAOH as hydroxides allowed the introduction of Sn in the silica framework, although the materials prepared with TMAOH displayed a higher contribution of pentacoordinated and extraframework Sn. All the Sn‐MCM‐41 prepared in this work were active in converting glucose into fructose, showing performance superior to Sn‐MCM‐41 prepared at high temperature.