2.3. Synthesis of hydrotalcite (HTaL)

Synthesis of HTaL support material was carried out by following a procedure previously reported in the literature [37]. In a typical synthesis protocol, an aqueous solution containing 28.78 mmol (7.38 g) magnesium nitrate hexahydrate and 14.4 mmol (5.40 g) aluminium nitrate nonohydrate solutions was mixed with sodium hydroxide (1.0 M) and sodium carbonate (0.4 M) solutions at about pH 10.0 (±0.1). The resulting mixture was stirred for 6 h at 353 K and then centrifuged at 6000 rpm for 10 min to isolate the solid part of the aliquot. The isolated solid was washed with distilled water until a pH value of around 7.0 was reached in aliquot taken from the liquid part of the filtrate. The resulting solid product (HTaL) was dried at 383 K for 12 h.