A "soft-chemical" method to synthesize Lewis acid surfaces of aluminum oxide

Abstract

Stoichiometric hydrolysis of the monomeric adduct 1 formed from an amine and aluminum tert-butoxide provides aluminum oxide 2 with a high density of Lewis acidic Al surface ions and few hydroxy groups. The amine acts as a protection agent for the coordination site of Al. After the formation of the solid, the amine can be exchanged readily with other Lewis bases, and the surface Al ions that the amine is coordinated to are catalytically active Lewis acid sites.