Synthesis and catalytic activity of organic-inorganic hybrid Ti-SBA-15 materials

Organic - inorganic hybrid Ti-functionalized mesostructured materials have been synthesized from titanocene dichloride in the presence of non-ionic surfactants as structure directing agents in acidic media. The organic functionalization of the mesoporous silica based materials has been accomplished by different techniques, including direct synthesis in the presence of organosilicon precursors, post-synthetic surface silylation and by using bissilylated organosilane precursors to give titanium-containing periodic mesoporous organosilicas ( Ti-PMOs). The presence of bissilylated organosilane precursors in the synthesis medium dramatically influences the textural, structural and morphological properties of the synthesized Ti-PMO materials in comparison with Ti-SBA-15 samples. All these materials show high catalytic activity in the epoxidation of 1-octene with hydroperoxides, their catalytic behaviour being correlated with the hydrophobic nature of the sample.