A General Phase-TransferProtocol for Mineral Acidsand Its Application in the Large-Scale Synthesis of Highly NanoporousIron Phosphate in Nonaqueous Solvent.

As a general protocol for transferring mineral acidsfrom an aqueoussolution to an organic phase, mineral acids are extracted with secondarycarbon primary amine (C9–11)2CHNH2(commercial code: N1923) into an organic phase (e.g., heptaneor benzene) because of the complexation reaction and the formationof typical reversed micelles. Based on this principle, a novel approachfor a large-scale synthesis of highly nanoporous iron phosphate particlesis developed via the formed RNH3+/H2PO4–(H2O)/oil reversed micellesystem and ethanol–Fe3+solutions. Synthetic conditions,such as H3PO4concentration in reversed micellesand Fe3+concentration in ethanol–Fe3+solution are investigated and optimized. The product is characterizedusing transmission electron microscopy, Brunauer–Emett–Teller,thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray diffraction, and Fourier transforminfrared spectroscopy. The as-obtained iron phosphate is flocculentand highly porous, exhibiting a high reported surface area of 144m2/g. The synthetic procedure is relatively simple andis suitable for large-scale fabrication, and the used organic aminescan be recycled. The power of this approach is demonstrated usingother kinds of organic amines, such as tri-n-octylamine (TOA) andtri-C8–10-alkylmethyl ammonium chloride (N263),as phase-transfer reagents exhibiting promising application in thesynthesis of highly nanoporous materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]