Patent ID: 7601326

Claim:
A process for making a mesoporous oxide of zirconium, the process comprising: forming a precipitate comprising an ionic porogen which is a halide salt selected from the group consisting of ammonium halide, tetramethyl ammonium halide, tetraethyl ammonium halide and combinations thereof and a hydrous oxide of zirconium from a reaction mixture comprising a zirconium starting material selected from the group consisting of zirconium tetrachloride, zirconium oxychloride octahydrate and combination thereof, a base selected from the group consisting of ammonium hydroxide, ammonium carbonate, ammonium bicarbonate, tetramethyl ammonium hydroxide, tetraethyl ammonium hydroxide and combinations thereof and a solvent selected from group the consisting of ethanol, n-propanol, i-propanol, dimethyl acetamide, alcoholic ammonium halide, aqueous ammonium halide and combinations thereof, wherein the zirconium starting material or the solvent, or both, are a source of the anion for the ionic porogen and the base is the source of the cation for the ionic porogen; and removing the ionic porogen from the precipitate to recover a mesoporous oxide of zirconium having a pore volume of at least about 0.25 cc/g and an average pore diameter of at least about 100 Å.