Monolayer structures of niobic acids supported on silica and their catalytic activities for esterification of acetic acid with ethanol

New submonolayer niobic acid catalysts were prepared by the reaction of Nb(OC[sub 2]H[sub 5])[sub 5] with surface OH groups of SiO[sub 2], followed by H[sub 2]O treatment. The surface structures were characterized by means of EXAFS, XRD, XRF, and FT-IR. The niobic acids on SiO[sub 2] up to 8.0 wt % Nb loadings were found to grow in a monolayer mode. These catalysts showed activities 20 times as large as that of a niobic acid bulk catalyst for the esterification of acetic acid with ethanol. The activity was referred to Lewis acid sites in the monolayer structure, which was stable even after evacuation at high temperatures such as 873 K.