A series of Ce/SBA-15 catalysts with different degrees of hydrophobicities were prepared via a post-grafting method and used for the direct synthesis of dimethyl carbonate (DMC) from CO₂ and methanol.

Aerobic oxidation of fluorene to fluorenone was achieved over Co–Cu bimetal oxides using O₂ as an oxidant in the absence of a radical initiator. Co–Cu bimetal oxides showed better catalytic performance than CuO and Co₃O₄.

The adsorption and activation of both CO₂ and methanol are mainly affected by the distance of the Lewis acid site, Zr⁴⁺, and Lewis base, Zr⁴⁺/O²⁻, of the Zr-based catalysts. In this paper, Zr-incorporated SBA-15 (Zr-SBA-15) and Zr-grafted SBA-15 (Zr/SBA-15) catalysts were prepared with different Zr environments, and were analyzed with N₂ adsorption–desorption isotherms, X-ray diffraction, UV-vis spectra, and XPS. It was proposed that Zr-SBA-15 catalyst with Si-O-Zr-OH and Zr-O-Si-OH structure exhibited non-adjacent sites between Zr⁴⁺ and Zr⁴⁺/O²⁻, while Zr/SBA-15 catalyst with Zr-O-Zr-OH structure showed neighboring sites between Zr⁴⁺ and Zr⁴⁺/O²⁻. Furthermore, the Zr/SBA-15 catalyst exhibited good catalytic activity, while no DMC was detected over the Zr-SBA-15 catalyst at the same reaction conditions. For combined in situ infrared and catalytic performance, it was indicated that the methanol and CO₂ could be activated to form DMC, only when the Zr⁴⁺ and Zr⁴⁺/O²⁻ sites existed and were adjacent to each other in the Zr-O-Zr-OH of Zr/SBA-15 catalyst.