Influence of the nature of titanium alkoxide and of the acid of hydrolysis in the preparation of titanium-pillared montmorillonites

Titanium-pillared montmorillonites using Ti(OC2H5)(4), Ti(O-nC(3)H(7))(4), Ti(O-iC(3)H(7))(4) and Ti(O-nC(4)H(9))(4) as sources of titanium, and HCl, HClO4, HNO3, H2SO4, CH3CO2H and H3PO4 as acids for hydrolysis, have been prepared. The preparation of titanium-pillared clays (Ti-PILCS) is mainly affected by the acid/alkoxide mole ratio. The nature of the alkoxide influences both the basal spacing and the specific surface area. The use of Ti(OC2H5)(4) as a source of titanium yielded the best textural and thermal stability results. The differences observed in the titanium pillared clays as a function of the acid used for the hydrolysis seem to be mainly related to the pH of the solution of intercalation. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.