Crystalline-like molecularly ordered mesoporous aluminosilicates derived from aluminosilica-surfactant mesophases via benign template removal

We report the preparation of mesoporous aluminosilicate materials that exhibit molecular-scale ordering in their pore wall framework. The materials were derived from mesoporous aluminosilica-surfactant mesophases via benign template removal methods, which allowed the retention of molecular ordering in surfactant-free materials. The molecularly ordered aluminosilica-surfactant mesophases were obtained from hydrothermal crystallization of cetyltrimethylammonium hydroxide/Al,Si/H2O systems at 135 degrees C for 12 days. Benign template removal via H2O2-mediated oxidation of the surfactant at room temperature was found to be the most effective method in generating surfactant-free materials with molecular ordering, high textural properties (depending on Al content), and high acidity. The Al in the resulting aluminosilicates was entirely incorporated in framework (tetrahedrally coordinated) sites. Template extraction in acidified ethanol also generated molecularly ordered materials but compromised the Al content and acidity. Template removal via conventional calcination generated porous materials with high textural properties but which exhibited only limited molecular ordering and had relatively low acidity and significant amounts of nonframework Al. This work demonstrates that molecular ordering in mesoporous silicate-surfactant mesophases is due to crystallographic ordering within inorganic frameworks rather than the arrangement/packing of surfactant molecules.