Synthesis of Mesoporous Zirconium Organophosphonate Solid‐Acid Catalysts

Abstract

Abstract Mesoporous zirconium phosphonate materials with bridged organic groups in the framework were hydrothermally synthesized with 1‐hydroxyethylidene‐1,1‐diphosphonic acid as coupling molecule and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide as template. The mesostructure is wormhole‐like with a specific surface area of 702 m 2 /g and a uniform pore size of 3.6 nm, and the organophosphonate groups are homogeneously integrated in the network of the obtained solids. The hydroxyethylidene‐bridged mesoporous zirconium phosphonates can serve as solid‐acid catalysts for the synthesis of methyl‐2,3‐ O ‐isopropylidene‐β‐ D ‐ribofuranoside from D ‐ribose and exhibit high catalytic activity with rapid reaction rate, which are comparable to the catalytic performance when liquid acid HCl or commercial ion‐exchange resin NKC‐9 is used as catalyst. Furthermore, mesoporous zirconium phosphonates show high stability with good reusability without any loss of catalytic activity after five cycles, which demonstrates their potential for industrial applications.