Highly ordered mesoporous silicon oxynitride materials as base catalysts

Basically, a good catalyst: The introduction of NHx species into the framework of mesoporous silicas results in silicon oxynitride materials and generates basic sites, which exhibit considerable catalytic activity for the Knoevenagel condensation reaction (see scheme). The well-ordered mesoporous oxynitrides have a high surface area and pore volume and are attractive as alternative basic catalysts, especially for large-molecule transformations.