Calculating The Acidity of Silica Supported Alkyl Sulfonic Acids Considering the Matrix Effect: A Dft Study

Abstract

Density functional theory (DFT) was used to investigate the acidity of the various silica alkyl sulfonic acids. In this regard, cluster models with various alkyl spacer lengths were selected to mimic the surface of silica gel. The effects of distance from the surface and the role of hydrogen bond (H–bond) on the ΔH_acidity values of these catalysts were investigated. DFT calculations revealed that a notable gap of ΔH_acidity values exists between the structures considering lateral hydrogen bonding with the surface of the silica HB structure and the structures with omitted surface interactions (non-HB structures). Natural bonding orbital (NBO) and quantum theory of atoms in molecules (QTAIM) analyses were carried out to obtain detailed information about the nature of the H–bonds.