Characterization and catalytic properties of nickel-substituted hexagonal mesoporous silica prepared by microwave-hydrothermal method

The liquid phase of acetylation of 1,2-dimethoxybenzene with acetic anhydride has been investigated over a series of acid nickel-mesoporous materials (Ni-MCM-41) synthesized by the microwave irradiation method with different Si/Ni ratios (Si/Ni = 80, 50, 10) and characterized by several spectroscopic techniques such as: N₂ physical adsorption, ICP, XRD, TEM, FT-IR, and a temperature programmed desorption (TPD) of pyridine. In fact, the catalyst Ni-MCM-41 (10) showed better performance in the acid-catalyzed acetylation of 1,2-dimethoxybenzene employing acetic anhydride as an acylating agent. Furthermore, the kinetics of the acetylation of 1,2-dimethoxybenzene over these catalysts have also been investigated.