Under the catalyze of phenyl sulfonic acid functionalized mesoporous silica(PSA-PS),the mixture of cis and trans-5-pentyl-2-(4-cyanophenyl)-1,3 dioxanes was prepared by 2-pentyl-1,3-propandiol and 4-cyanobenzaldehyde,then the mixture was isomerized by the same catalyst.

It was found that benzyl sulphonic acid functionalized MCM-41 molecular sieve(S-B-MCM-41) as catalyst was superior to sulphuric acid and other protonic acids in the esterification of acrylic acid with pentaerythritol.