Atomic-Level Organization of Vicinal Acid-Base Pairs through the Chemisorption of Aniline and Derivatives onto Mesoporous SBA15

The design of novel heterogeneous catalysts with multiple adjacent functionalities is of high interest for heterogeneous catalysis. Herein, we report a method to obtain a majority bifunctional acid-base pairs on SBA15. Aniline reacts with SBA15 by opening siloxane bridges leading to N-phenylsilanamine-silanol pairs. In contrast with ammonia treated surfaces, the material is stable under air/moisture. Advanced solid state MAS NMR: 2D ¹H-¹H double-quantum, ¹H-¹³C HETCOR experiments and dynamic nuclear polarization enhanced ²⁹Si and ¹⁵N spectra demonstrate both the close proximity between the two moieties and the formation of a covalent Si-N surface bond and confirm the design of vicinal acid-base pairs. This approach was successfully applied to the design of a series of aniline derivatives bifunctional SBA15. A correlation of the substituents effects on the aromatic ring (Hammet parameters) on the kinetics of the model reaction of Knoevenagel is observed.