Abstract
New solid acid catalysts have been synthesized by immobilization of zirconium complex into clay materials. The catalyst precursor was tris(acetylacetonato)zirconium(IV) cation ([Zr(acac)3]+), which was synthesized by refluxing zirconium chloride with acetylacetone in chloroform. Characterization of the complex was carried out using FT-IR, 1H NMR and CH analysis. Two types of clay, taeniolite and bentonite, possessing cation exchange capacity (C.E.C) of 268.2 meq/100 g and 82.0 meq/100 g, respectively were employed in the work as supporting materials. The ion complex was intercalated into interstitial layer spaces of the clays using facile ion-exchange method. The synthesized organic/inorganic hybrid was then characterized using UV-Vis, FT-IR and powder XRD. The catalysts demonstrated better catalytic performance for ring-opening and esterification reactions under mild conditions compared to previous works.
