Highly Dispersed SiOx/Al2O3 Materials: Catalytic Relevance of Isolated Silanol Active Sites

By selectively modifying a γ-Al₂O₃ surface with tetraethylorthosilicate vapor, highly dispersed SiO_x/Al₂O₃ catalysts have been synthesized. The SiO_x/Al₂O₃ active sites have silanol protons acidic enough to catalyze the dehydration of cyclohexanol to cyclohexene in the liquid phase with a greatly increased turnover frequency relative to the pure γ-Al₂O₃ catalyst.