! " ! !!! "! #!$ "#"" "% " & &’()* +, -! + .-/ !!! 0 1 .0/ 2 31 4 5 6((7’ 31 +, 1. Synthesis procedures a. Synthesis of CoAPO-5 materials from soluble-in-water sources: samples MCHAy. The key point for developing this method relied on the insolubility in water of the most widely employed Al sources. It is hard to assume that any of these solids is going to properly diffuse along the mesopores of the carbon matrix. In contrast, the most conventional P and Co sources (normally orthophosphoric acid and cobalt(II) salts) are easily soluble in water. We have selected AlCl 3 •6H 2 O as soluble-in-water Al source. Less acidic soluble-in-water Al sources, such as aluminium isopropoxide or acetate, were excluded because of their insolubility/instability in the water:etanol impregnation mixture used in the section. The synthesis procedure starts with the dissolution of cobalt (II) acetate tetrahydrate and H 3 PO 4 85 % in deionized water. Next, AlCl 3 •6H 2 O is added over that solution producing changes in texture and color, as the original clear pink solution becomes purple. Finally, different amounts of amine MCHA were added to the gel, giving the following general composition: 1.0 P : 0.04 Co : 0.96 Al : x MCHA : 25 H 2 O, where x was varied between 2.4 and 5.0. The high MCHA/P ratio in comparison with that used in other published similar syntheses 1- 3 , which was varied from 0.5 to 1.6, must be entirely attributed to the high acidic character of the Al source AlCl 3 •6H 2 O in comparison to the conventional (hydr)oxide-based Al sources. After the SDA addition, the gel was maintained for one hour under vigorous agitation (at ca. 400 rpm). The gels were transferred into Teflon-lined steel-stainless autoclaves and hydrothermally treated at 175 ºC under autogeneous pressure for 18 hours. The resultant blue or pink solids were filtered and subsequently washed with abundant deionized water. b. Synthesis of CoAPO-5 within the carbon matrix BP200: Samples Cx. In a typical synthesis procedure (sample C64), 5 g of the commercial carbon BP2000 was pre-treated in an oven at 150 ºC during 18 hours in order to remove water or any other volatile substance retained within its mesopores. Previously, a test of incipient wetness impregnation had been carried to estimate the volume of the water:ethanol mixture solution (weight ratio of 1:2) used as impregnation solvent. The evacuation process of the BP2000 was followed by a series of successive wetness impregnations of the different components forming the cobalt-