Nianjun Luo

Alkylation of tolune with 1,3-pentadine over silica supported aluminum chloride catalyst in an extracting-distilling reactor

Abstract The alkylation of toluene with 1,3-pentadiene to produce pentyltoluene is designed to obtain 2,6-dimethylnaphalene for the monomer production of 2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid. The possibility of the reaction is examined by the thermodynamics of the alkylation reaction using Thinhs group contributions method, and tested over silica supported aluminum chloride catalyst in a newly developed extracting-distilling reactor. The thermodynamics calculations results show that the alkylation reaction is exothermic and can proceed at 298-350K under normal pressure with an equilibrium constant higher than 106. Based on the thermodynamic calculation and the properties of the reactants and product, the extracting-distilling reactor was designed to allow 1,3-pentadiene to react with toluene at much lower temperature than the boiling point of toluene at the catalyst site. The alkylation product, which has a higher boiling point than that of toluene, is transferred from the catalytic site into the toluene ba...

Preparation of mesoporous N-doped TiO 2 via solvent evaporation induced assembly

Mesoporous, nitrogen-doped TiO<inf>2</inf> (TiO<inf>2−x</inf>N<inf>x</inf>) nano-crystal is potentially technologically important materials due to its developed porosity and visible-light responsive performance^[1–3]. These are important parameters for photocatalysis and Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs) with regard to adsorption and conversion of solar energy efficiency. We have recently developed an effective Solvent Evaporation Induced Assembly (SEISA) ^[4] procedure for the preparation of mesoporous TiO<inf>2−x</inf>N<inf>x</inf> Tnano-anatases. The wormlike mesoporous nanocrystal TiO<inf>2−x</inf>N<inf>x</inf> has been prepared using SEISA method and compared with that synthesized via Sol-gel methods. The SEISA method has many advantages over widely-used sol-gel method with regard to porosity and surface area. Also, the SEISA method is less water sensitive than traditional methods which makes it more effective for the fabrications of photocatalysts and DSSC devices.