A facile ultrasound-assisted synthesis of mesoporous carbon

The ultrasonic method is an alternative to the conventional route to produce structured carbon materials, offering the advantages of synthesis in a short period of time under room temperature. The main objective of this work is to synthesize a sulfonated mesoporous carbon catalyst from a phenolic resin composed of phloroglucinol and formaldehyde. The synthesis was performed by the soft-template method in an ultrasonic processor and the product was subsequently carbonized and sulfonated for application in the esterification model reaction. Functionalization with sulfuric acid of MCS5-6 h sample brought about a decrease in porosity but simultaneously resulted in the generation of functional groups of an acidic nature. The MCS5-6 h catalyst with a sulfonic density of 1.6 mmol g−1, surface area of 402 m2 g−1 and pore diameter of 10.6 nm maintained in mesoporous even after acid treatment. MCS5-6 h showed excellent activity in the esterification reaction with 95% oleic acid conversion. The recyclability of MCS5-6 h was satisfactory during five reaction cycles. The present work addressed a promising alternative for the synthesis of carbon catalysts using ultrasound irradiation, thus providing an alternative with a lower cost of time and energy for large-scale production.