Paper Title
Thermally activated fecl3 supported on si-mcm-41, mont. K-10 and h-beta clay for the benzylation ofbenzene and benzoylation of p-xylene

Abstract
Impregnation of Si-MCM-41, Mont. K-10 clay and H-beta zeolite support with anhydrous FeCl3 (loading of 0.5 to 2.0 mmol/g) from its acetonitrile solution and evaporating the solvent under vacuum resulted in the modification of the surface hydroxyl groups of support. The supported catalysts were thermally activated in an atmosphere of N2 or air to enhance their surface properties. Formation of catalytically active new surface species -O-MCl2 and (-O)2MCl due to the solid-solid reaction between the supported metal chloride and surface hydroxyls of the catalyst support occurs. These surface species are chemically bound to the support through �O- linkage and are responsible for the high catalytic activity of the thermally activated supported metal chloride catalysts. High turn-over frequency and shorter reaction times where observed revealing that the thermally activated FeCl3/Mont K-10 clay, FeCl3/Si-MCM-41 and FeCl3/H-beta, shows high activity in both the benzylation and benzoylation reactions than that showed by the earlier reported catalysts. Effect of catalyst calcination temperature, atmosphere of calcination, catalyst loading were also studied. Among the thermally activated supported metal chloride catalysts FeCl3/H-beta show relatively better performance in both the benzylation and benzoylation reaction due to redox and acidic properties, such as clayzic, supported oxides and chlorides of iron.