Aminated Ordered Mesoporous Carbons: Preparation and Catalytic Performance for Knoevenagel Condensation Reactions

The amine‐ and diamine‐functionalized mesoporous carbons with hexagonal mesostructure have been prepared by a rationally two‐step modification procedure under mild reaction conditions, respectively. The physicochemical properties of the obtained solid basic mesoporous catalysts were characterized by XRD, TEM, N₂ adsorption‐desorption, FT‐IR, EDX and elemental analysis techniques. The results indicated the organic amine groups were successfully introduced inside the channels of mesoporous carbons without destroying the well‐ordered 2D hexagonal mesostructure. A series of Knoevenagel condensation of aldehyde/ketone with active methylene compounds have been carried out over the diamine‐function‐ alized mesoporous carbons, which proved to be efficient heterogeneous basic catalysts and exhibited a similar catalytic activity after sixth cycles. This can be attributed to its hydrophobic framework and hydrophilic diamine groups, which led to amphiphilic properties and offered some advantages for the Knoevenagel condensation reactions.