M-SBA-15 materials (M = Al, B, Cr, Fe) were prepared by different direct synthesis methods, characterized and tested catalytically in the 1-hexene oligomerization reaction at 125 degrees C. Al-SBA-15 were synthesized within the range Si/Al = 12-86 using aluminium isopropoxide as aluminium source. (27)AlMAS NMR spectra point out that the three Al-SBA-15 samples contain more tetrahedral aluminium than octahedral and the ratio tetrahedral/octahedral diminished with increasing aluminium contents. B-SBA-15 was prepared with a Si/B = 51-106 using two direct synthesis methods (sol-gel and hydrothermal) and three different boron sources (solid boric acid, aqueous boric acid and boron isopropoxide). The best results in terms of boron incorporation (Si/B = 51) were achieved with solid boric acid and the sol-gel method, although a lower degree of mesoscopic ordering was obtained compared to the hydrothermal procedure. B-11 MAS NMR showed that trigonal boron is the principal coordination state obtained after calcination. Cr-SBA-15 was also achieved by direct synthesis method at different pH (1.5, 3, 5) but the incorporation degree was low, at best Si/Cr = 240 at pH 5. UV-vis spectroscopy indicated that all Cr species were Cr6+ formed during the calcination step. Oligomerization of 1-hexene at 125 degrees C showed that the highest conversion (similar to 30%) was attained over Al-SBA-15 (Si/Al = 30) although Cr-SBA-15 material exhibited close conversion (21%) despite its low heteroatom content (Si/Cr = 240). Dimers were the major products over Al-SBA-15, Cr-SBA-15 and Fe-SBA-15 catalysts (selectivity >= 40%) while strikingly, sol-gel B-SBA-15 lead mostly to heavy oligomers (> 60%), with less than 10% of dimers. (C) 2009 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.