Catalytic activity of mesoporous molecular sieve Rb-AlKIT-1 in organic reactions

The catalytic activity of alkali metal-exchanged Al-containing KIT-1(Na-AlKIT-1, K-AlKIT-1, and Rb-AlKIT-1) as a base catalyst for Knoevenagal reaction was tested. The reaction of the benzaldehydes with ethyl cyanoacetate proceeded very well in toluene solution and the yield of the product is good to excellent. A solvent-free system, i.e. the neat reaction without solvent heating on a 160 similar to 180 degreesC sand bath, gave the desired condensed products, diethyl phenylmethylidenepropanedionate from diethyl malonate and ethyl phenylmethylidenecyanopropanonate from ethyl cyanoacetate in 10-90% yield, respectively.