Applications of Amine-functionalized Mesoporous Silica in Fine Chemical Synthesis

SBA-15 silica containing homogeneously distributed amine-functional groups and of fiber or platelet morphology was prepared through a modified co-condensation method using P123 copolymer as template under acidic condition. Synthetic factors which led to well-ordered mesoporous materials with high loadings of various amine groups were discussed. The resultant mesoporous materials were efficient base catalysts in Knoevenagel and Claisen–Schmidt addition reactions. The activities over SBA-15 materials with different amino-functional groups are compared. Moreover, the advantage of ordered large mesopores of SBA-15 in catalyzing liquid phase reactions was demonstrated, and the reaction rate could be further increased when SBA-15 was with platelet morphology and short mesochannels.