Highly efficient synthesis of Fe-containing mesoporous materials by using semi-fluorinated surfactant and their high activities in Friedel–Crafts alkylations

Fe-containing mesoporous materials (Fe-JLU-15) with various Si/Fe ratios (47–112) have been successfully synthesized by using semi-fluorinated surfactant of FSO-100 as a template. XRD, N2 isotherm, and TEM techniques indicate that these samples have worm-like mesostructure with uniform pore size. UV–vis and ESR spectra suggest that Fe species in Fe-JLU-15 are mainly tetrahedrally coordinated. Interestingly, compared with Fe-SBA-15, the efficiency of incorporation of Fe species into Fe-JLU-15 is relatively high. Very importantly, catalytic data in benzylation of aromatic compounds such as benzene, toluene, and ethylbenzene with benzyl chloride shows that Fe-JLU-15 samples are very active and recycle catalysts.