New strategy to control distribution of acid sites in zeolitesZeolites are one of the shape-selectiv

New strategy to control distribution of acid sites in zeolites

Zeolites are one of the shape-selective catalysts. The characteristics of zeolites, which come from the structural confinement on the molecular dimensions, are crucial for shape-selective catalysis.
The catalytical acid sites at different positions of zeolites show a distinct confinement effect for reactant molecules, especially reflected in mordenite (MOR) zeolite catalyzing dimethyl ether (DME) carbonylation reaction.
Recently, a research team led by Prof. Liu Zhongmin from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) developed a new strategy to preferentially remove the acid sites in the 12-membered ring (12-MR) channels of MOR zeolite by a trimethylchlorosilane (TMCS) silylation treatment, which could improve the performance of DME carbonylation.
This study was published in ACS Catalysis on April 1.