Synthesis of Mesoporous Alumina Using Carboxyl Functional, Hyperbranched Polyesters as Templates

A series of mesoporous aluminas have been synthesized using commercial hyperbranched polyesters of the second to fourth generation as porogens. To achieve a suitable interaction between the polymer and the aluminium source, aluminium sec‐butoxide, the terminal hydroxyl groups of the hyperbranched polymer were first reacted by succinic anhydride. The mesoporous aluminas were analyzed by nitrogen adsorption/desorption, X‐ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). No dependence of the generation of the hyperbranched template on pore size was found in this study. Instead the pore size appears to depend on the amount of water added to the reaction mixture as well as the concentration of the hyperbranched polymer.

Keywords:

• Mesoporous materials
• alumina
• hyperbranched polymer
• porogen

Acknowledgments

The Research Council of Norway (NFR) is acknowledged for financial support to Heléne Magnusson. Prof. John Walmsley is thanked for help with the TEM experiments. Perstorp AB is thanked for the hyperbranched polyesters.