1 Influence of preparation method of sulfated zirconia nanoparticles for levulinic acid esterification Margarita Popova a *, Ágnes Szegedi b , Hristina Lazarova a , Momtchil Dimitrov a , Yuri Kalvachev c , Genoveva Atanasova d , Alenka Ristić e , Nicole Wilde f , Roger Gläser f a Institute of Organic Chemistry with Centre of Phytochemistry, Bulgarian Academy of Science, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria b Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Materials and Environmental Chemistry, 1117 Budapest, Magyar tudósok körútja 2, Hungary c Institute of Mineralogy and Crystallography, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria d Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria e National Institute of Chemistry Slovenia, Hajdrihova 19, 1001 Ljubljana, Slovenia f Universität Leipzig, Institute of Chemical Technology, Linnéstr. 3, 04103 Leipzig, Germany * Corresponding autor: mpopova@orgchm.bas.bg Abstract Zirconia nanomaterials were prepared by hydrothermal synthesis with or without template and were modified by post synthesis method with sulfate groups. The materials were thoroughly characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), N2 physisorption, UV-Vis spectroscopy, TG analysis and XPS spectroscopy. The catalytic performance of nanosized mesoporous ZrO2 catalysts and their sulfated modifications was studied in levulinic acid (LA) esterification with ethanol. The sulfate group’s dispersion was predetermined by the use of template during the mesoporous zirconia synthesis. A relation between sulfate groups leaching and the applied synthesis conditions (with or without template) of the zirconia nanoparticles was found. Sulfated materials showed significantly higher activity compared to non-sulfated ones. Furthermore, it has been found that the presence of