Novel synthesis of spherical MCM-48

A novel synthesis route was developed for the cubic member of the M41S family, MCM-48, with a three-dimensional pore system allowing the formation of submicrometre- to micrometre-sized beads with a narrow pore-size distribution. The synthesis is based on the modified Stöber method applying tetraethoxysilane, ethanol, water, ammonia and n-hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide as template. The specific surface area, the specific pore volume and the average pore diameter were varied in the following ranges: 900–1600 m2 g−1, 0.5–0.9 cm3 g−1 and 2–3 nm. Aluminium-, chromium-, gallium-, niobium- and vanadium-MCM-48 were also synthesized following this procedure.