In situ assembly of layered double hydroxide nano-crystallites within silica mesopores and its high solid base catalytic activity.

Mg-Al layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanocrystallites with a lateral size less than 9 nm were in situ synthesized within the pore channels of mesoporous silica materials, creating one of the most active heterogeneous base catalysts owing to the high number of active edge sites.