(386e) Impact of Surface Loading on Catalytic Activity of Regular and Low Micropore SBA-15 in the Knoevenagel Condensation

The immobilization of highly active catalysts on heterogeneous catalytic materials has the potential to enable the efficient and sustainable production of chemicals and fuels. Yet, catalyst immobilization on mesoporous supports such as SBA-15 typically results in low catalytic activity. Herein, we demonstrate that a key limitation for heterogeneous catalytic materials is the presence of micropores. Through reducing the micropore volume, we are able to increase the catalytic activity by over a factor of two for the Knoevenagel condensation and other related catalytic reactions. This observation has the potential to overcome the key limitation of reduced catalytic activity for immobilized catalysts, encouraging the broad adoption of these promising catalytic materials.