Patent ID: 7988947

Claim:
A process for making a mesoporous oxide of titanium, comprising: (a) forming a mixture by combining starting materials comprising: (i) a titanium oxychloride (ii) a base selected from the group consisting of ammonium hydroxide, ammonium carbonate, ammonium bicarbonate, tetramethyl ammonium hydroxide, tetraethyl ammonium hydroxide or mixtures thereof, and (iii) a solvent selected from the group consisting of ethanol, n-propanol, i-propanol, dimethyl acetamide, alcoholic ammonium halide and aqueous ammonium halide or mixtures thereof wherein the mixture has a pH in the range of about 4-10 and forms a precipitate comprising a chloride salt and a hydrous titanium oxide, (b) heating portions of the precipitate at a temperature greater than about 300° C. to remove the chloride salt, and (c) recovering a mesoporous oxide of titanium having a pore volume of at least about 0.5 cc/g and an average pore diameter of at least about 200 Å.