Abstract
Hierarchical silicalite-1 possessing three generations of micro-, meso-, and macro-porosities was fabricated through a dual-template approach using tetrapropylammonium hydroxide (TPAOH) and styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) latex particles as micropore and macropore templates, respectively. The silicalite-1 catalyst is characterized by XRD, FT-IR, FESEM, TEM and acidity measurement. The synthesized hierarchical porous nanocrystalline silicalite-1 showed high activity and selectivity to epsilon-caprolactam (99%) in the Beckmann rearrangement of cyclohexanone oxime under mild reaction conditions.