Combination of sol-gel and hydrothermal routes in the metal alkoxide binary system of Al(OR)3-Ti(OR)4 (R= -CH(CH3)2 or -CH2CH2OCH3) were investigated to prepare single phase aluminum titanate (tialite). The effects of various parameters, such as hydrothermal processing temperature, solvent polarity and the type of alkoxide precursor, in phase development of the product powders have been investigated. Phase development of the product powders was followed by means of infrared spectroscopy (IR), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and thermal analysis (TG/DSC). Results of XRD patterns showed that when the polarity of solvent increased by using a mixture of toluene and isopropanol instead of pure toluene solvent, phase development of the product powder retarded and needed higher temperature (more than 1400ºC) to produce single phase tialite. Similar effect was observed when aluminum 2-methoxyethoxide and titanium 2-methoxyethoxide used instead of the aluminum iso-propoxide and titanium iso-propoxide. These observations were attributed to the more controlled hydrolysis conditions in the hydrothermal assisted sol-gel process. Manuscript profile

Fe3O4 nanoparticles were prepared solvothermally and then covered with boehmite shell via hydrothermal assisted sol-gel processing of aluminum 2-propoxide. Then the hydroxyl covered outer surface of the boehmite shell was covalently functionalized with 3-(tri-methoxysilyl) propylamine and the terminal amine groups converted to imine by refluxing with 2-hydroxybenzaldehyde. Then it was used to support bis-acetylacetonato-di-oxo-molybdenum (VI). The supported catalyst was characterized by Fourier transform Infrared spectroscopy, elemental analysis, inductive coupled plasma and transmission electron microscopy analysis and it was applied in the epoxidation of cis-cyclooctene. The catalytic procedure was optimized for different parameters such as solvent, oxidant, and temperature. The reaction progress was investigated by gas-liquid chromatography analysis. The used catalyst was simply recovered from the solution by applying a magnet and recycling experiments revealed that this heterogeneous nano-catalyst could be repeatedly applied for the epoxidation of cis-cyclooctene. The optimized conditions were also used for the epoxidation of some other alkenes successfully. Manuscript profile