High thermally stable mesoporous alumina doped with lanthanum was synthesized using inorganic nitrates as precursors and employing pluronic P123 （P123, （EO20PO70EO20, EO=ethylene oxide, PO=propylene oxide）） as a structure-directing agent. After calcination at 400 oC, the resultant lanthanum doped alumina exhibited aγ-Al2O3 phase, which was the same as pure alumina. After the thermal treatment up to 1200 oC, La-doped Al2O3 generated only one phase ofθ-Al2O3 rather than two mixed phase ofθ-Al2O3 andα-Al2O3 and the surface area could still maintain 101 m2/g with a keeping pore volume of 0.66 cm3/g. The excellent thermal sta-bility was explained by the titration of strong Lewis acid sites ofγ-Al2O3 with the assistance of highly dispersed lanthanum species covering on alumina. Furthermore, the lanthanum modified mesoporous alumina was preliminarily employed as a stable support for Pd in the catalytic oxidation of C3H8.
