Supported Choline Hydroxide (Ionic Liquid) on Mesoporous Silica as Heterogeneous Catalyst for Knoevenagel Condensation Reactions

Abstract

In this work hybrid mesoporous SBA-15 and mesoporous silica microspheres functionalized with choline hydroxide ionic liquid have been prepared. A two-step process inspired by the industrial production of choline hydroxide has been developed to synthesize the hybrid SBA-15 material with choline hydroxide ionic liquid (Chol-SBA-15) and the hybrid SBA-15 material with choline hydroxide ionic liquid and hexamethyldisilizane as capping agent (Chol-HMDS-SBA-15). For the preparation of hybrid mesoporous silica microspheres (Chol- MSMs), a co-condensation method has been employed with an ionic liquid prepared by reaction of 3-(glycidyloxypropyl) trimethoxysilane and trimethylamine in aqueous media. The synthesized materials have been fully characterized by elemental analysis, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), N2 adsorption-desorption, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and 13C CP/MAS NMR spectroscopy. These materials have been tested successfully as catalysts in Knoevenagel condensation of benzaldehyde with RCH2C≡N (R=CN (malononitrile), CO2Et (ethyl cyanoacetate)). The catalyst Chol-MSMs showed high catalytic activity, 99% of conversion and 99% of selectivity towards ethyl 2-cyano-3-phenylacrylate in 2 h of reaction and using ethanol as solvent. In addition, their reusability without loss of activity has been demonstrated