Transition Metal‐Promoted Carbon‐Silicon Solid Acid Catalysts for the Synthesis and Process Optimization of Benzaldehyde Glycol Acetal

A series of transition metal (M)‐promoted carbon‐silicon (C−M−Si; M=Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Zr) solid acid catalysts with designated molar ratio of M/Si=1 : 8 were fabricated and exploited for acetalization of benzaldehyde (BzH) with ethylene glycol (EG). The physical and chemical properties of these C−M−Si catalysts prepared by sol‐gel method were characterized by various techniques, namely, SEM, EDS, TGA‐DTG, BET, XRD, FTIR, XPS, and NH3‐TPD. Among various examined acidic C−M−Si catalysts, the C−Fe−Si catalyst exhibited the optimal catalytic activity with the benzaldehyde glycol acetal (BEGA) yield of 97.67 %, in excellent agreement with the value (97.88 %) predicted by the response surface methodology (RSM) based on a Box‐Behnken design (BBD). C−Fe−Si catalyst with the high catalytic activities and excellent stability and reusability may be ascribed to the suitable acidity and uniform surface distribution of active sites requisite for the acid‐catalyzed acetalization reaction. Transition‐metal‐modified carbon‐silicon solid acid catalysts with excellent acidity, facile recovery, and good stability were synthesized and exploited for practical production of benzaldehyde glycol acetal.