4. Conclusions
Iron-containing mesoporous mordenite was prepared by post treatment
and ion-exchanged method for the first time. The Fe-M-Mor catalyst
showed excellent catalytic performance in the benzylation of
benzene and benzyl chloride. The apparent reaction rate constant for
Fe-M-Mor is about ten times as that for Fe-Mor. The catalytic activity
had no good relationship with the acidity of catalysts. Such big difference
in catalytic activity should be mainly attributed to the existence
of mesopores and more active iron sites in Fe-M-Mor. The study on
heterogeneous nature demonstrated that Fe-M-Mor is a heterogeneous
catalyst and could be reused. Additionally, the catalyst has found potential
application in other Friedel–Crafts alkylations, especially towards
large molecular reactions.
Acknowledgments
The project was sponsored by the Scientific Research Starting
Funding from Harbin Institute of Technology, Open Funding from the
State Key Lab of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry, Jilin
University, and the Scientific Research Foundation for the Returned
Overseas Chinese Scholars, State Education Ministry