Synthesis and Mechanistic Studies of Sulfated Meso- and Microporous Zirconias with Chelating Carboxylate Surfactants

Ligand-assisted templating with carboxylate surfactants is used to produce micro- and mesoporous zirconias in a method where the organic template can be removed with a simple acid treatment obviating the usual harsh calcination conditions required to remove templates from transition metal oxide molecular sieves. A new mechanism is proposed for the mesostructure formation, in which the self-assembly step and the condensation step occur simultaneously with polymer propagation. Applications in shape-selective catalysis are envisaged.