Use of sol-gel derived porous microposite of perfluorinated ion-exchange polymer and metal oxide to isomerize terminal olefins

A process for the isomerization of an olefin, comprising contacting said olefin at isomerization conditions with a catalytic amount of a porous microcomposite, said microcomposite comprising a perfluorinated ion-exchange polymer with pendant sulfonic and/or carboxylic acid groups entrapped within and highly dispersed throughout a network of metal oxide, silica or a combination thereof, wherein the weight percentage of perfluorinated ion-exchange polymer in the microcomposite is from about 0.1 to about 90 percent, wherein the size of the pores in the microcomposite is about 0.5 nm to about 75 nm, and wherein the microcomposite optionally further comprises pores having a size in the range of about 75 nm to about 1000 mn.