A facile synthesis of α-zirconium phosphate (ZP) nanoparticles as an effective, eco-friendly, and recyclable solid acid catalyst is reported. Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) were used as organic matrix as dispersing agents and served as a template for the nanoparticles. Hydrogen bonds between ZP and PVA or PVP, along the polymer chains, appear to play an im-portant role for improving the dispersion of in situ formed ZP. Following calcination of PVA/ZP or PVP/ZP, pure hexagonal ZP nanoparticles were obtained. The catalysts were characterized by ni-trogen sorption, inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Fouri-er transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy, and transmission elec-tron microscopy. Pyridine-FTIR and temperature-programmed desorption of NH3 suggest the presence of Brönsted acid sites. The acidic properties of the catalyst were studied in Friedel-Crafts alkylation of phenol by tert-butanol, producing 2-tert-butylphenol, 4-tert-butylphenol, and 2,4-di-tert-butylphenol. The alkylation reaction was performed in the presence of catalysts P2O5/Al2O3, P2O5/SiO2, α-ZrP (prepared in the absence of the polymers), and various ionic liquids. The use of the hexagonal ZP nanoparticle catalyst afforded an excellent phenol conversion (86%) and selectivity towards 4-tert-butylphenol (83%) under optimized reaction conditions. The catalyst was easily recovered from the reaction mixture, regenerated, and reused at least four times without significant loss in the catalytic activity.
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