Increased propene production is presently one of the most significant objectives in petroleum chemistry. Especially the one-step conversion of ethene to propene (ETP reaction, 3C₂H₄ ® 2C₃H₆) is the most desired process. In our efforts, nickel ion-loaded mesoporous silica could turn a new type of ETP reaction into reality. The one-step conversion of ethene was 68% and the propene selectivity was 48% in a continuous gas-flow system at 673 K and atmospheric pressure. The reactivity of lower olefins and the dependences of the ETP reaction on the contact time and the partial pressure of ethene were consistent with a reaction mechanism involving dimerization of ethene to 1-butene, isomerization of 1-butene to 2-butene, and metathesis of 2-butene and ethene to yield propene. The reaction was then expanded to an ethanol-to-propene reaction on the same catalyst, in which two possible reaction routes are suggested to form ethene from ethanol. The catalysts were characterized mainly by EXAFS and TPR techniques. The local structures of the nickel species active for the ETP reaction were very similar to that of layered nickel silicate, while those on the inert catalysts were the same as that of NiO particles.

Biginelli reactions were well catalyzed on mesoporous silica MCM-41 (M41) whose activity was much greater than that of amorphous silica. Octane was the most suitable among 6 kinds of solvents examined. The addition of metal ions on M41 enhanced the catalytic activity in the order Al > Ti > Fe = In. Al-planted M41s with Si/Al ratios of 45–35 showed the highest catalytic activity and could be used repeatedly though a small loss of the activity was observed. The catalysis could widely be applied to obtain various substituted dihydropyrimidinones (DHPMs) with high yields, some of which were very difficult to prepare until now. In addition, Biginelli reactions were combined with formyl C–H insertion reactions of diazoester on mesoporous silica; that is, a tandem one-pot four-component DHPM synthesis was attempted. Acetaldehyde, ethyl diazoacetate, p-tolualdehyde, and urea could be condensed and the corresponding DHPM derivative was obtained with 50% yield on Al-planted M41.