It is possible to say that zeolites are the most widely used catalysts in industry They are crystalline microporous materials which have become extremely successful as catalysts for oil refining, petrochemistry, and organic synthesis in the production of fine and speciality chemicals, particularly when dealing with molecules having kinetic diameters below 10 A The reason for their success in catalysis is related to the following specific features of these materials:1 (1) They have very high surface area and adsorption capacity (2) The adsorption properties of the zeolites can be controlled, and they can be varied from hydrophobic to hydrophilic type materials (3) Active sites, such as acid sites for instance, can be generated in the framework and their strength and concentration can be tailored for a particular application (4) The sizes of their channels and cavities are in the range typical for many molecules of interest (5-12 A), and the strong electric fields2 existing in those micropores together with an electronic confinement of the guest molecules3 are responsible for a preactivation of the reactants (5) Their intricate channel structure allows the zeolites to present different types of shape selectivity, ie, product, reactant, and transition state, which can be used to direct a given catalytic reaction toward the desired product avoiding undesired side reactions (6) All of these properties of zeolites, which are of paramount importance in catalysis and make them attractive choices for the types of processes listed above, are ultimately dependent on the thermal and hydrothermal stability of these materials In the case of zeolites, they can be activated to produce very stable materials not just resistant to heat and steam but also to chemical attacks Avelino Corma Canos was born in Moncofar, Spain, in 1951 He studied chemistry at the Universidad de Valencia (1967−1973) and received his PhD at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid in 1976 He became director of the Instituto de Tecnologia Quimica (UPV-CSIC) at the Universidad Politecnica de Valencia in 1990 His current research field is zeolites as catalysts, covering aspects of synthesis, characterization and reactivity in acid−base and redox catalysis A Corma has written about 250 articles on these subjects in international journals, three books, and a number of reviews and book chapters He is a member of the Editorial Board of Zeolites, Catalysis Review Science and Engineering, Catalysis Letters, Applied Catalysis, Journal of Molecular Catalysis, Research Trends, CaTTech, and Journal of the Chemical Society, Chemical Communications A Corma is coauthor of 20 patents, five of them being for commercial applications He has been awarded with the Dupont Award on new materials (1995), and the Spanish National Award “Leonardo Torres Quevedo” on Technology Research (1996) 2373 Chem Rev 1997, 97, 2373−2419

From Microporous to Mesoporous Molecular-Sieve Materials and Their Use in Catalysis

This review paper deals with proven and potential applications of mesoporous molecular sieves in catalysis. In addition to introduction and conclusion, the text is divided into two parts, respectively, dedicated to the design of solid catalysts and catalyst supports and to some relevant examples of catalytic processes.

/pdf/perspectives-in-catalytic-applications-of-mesostructured-4jgvbmynn3.pdf

Perspectives in catalytic applications of mesostructured materials

The structure of active centers and the ethylene polymerization mechanism on the Cr/SiO2 catalyst: a frontier for the characterization methods.

The co-condensation of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) and organotrialkoxysilane molecules by neutral alkylamine surfactant assembly (S0I0) is a convenient synthesis methodology for the one-step preparation of organically functionalized mesostructured materials. Two distinct approaches were considered for the formation of such hybrid inorganic−organic compounds, denoted as the template substitution and direct addition pathways. The template substitution pathway, involving the replacement of both surfactant and TEOS by an equivalent amount of organosilane (up to 11% substitution), was convenient for the functionalization of mesostructures with moieties whose size is comparable to that of the structure-directing amine surfactant. The direct addition method, involving the equimolar replacement of TEOS with organosilane (up to 9% of total silicon) while keeping the surfactant amount constant in the reaction mixture, was successful for the incorporation of organic groups whose sizes were smaller than that of the temp...

Direct Synthesis of Hybrid Organic−Inorganic Nanoporous Silica by a Neutral Amine Assembly Route: Structure−Function Control by Stoichiometric Incorporation of Organosiloxane Molecules

Modification of mesoporous silicas by incorporation of heteroelements in the framework

Mesoporous Ti-, Cr- and V-substituted derivatives of the cubic silica molecular sieve MCM-48 have been hydrothermally synthesized at 373 K by an electrostatic assembly pathway using cetyltrimethylammonium cation as the templating agent. The transition metal substituted products all exhibit improved crystallinity and a narrower pore size distribution relative to the pristine molecular sieve. Transition metal substitution caused an enlargement of the cubic unit cell as well as an increase in the degree of crosslinking in the mesopore walls. The coordination of V-sites in the meso-structure is exclusively tetrahedral, as judged by NMR spectroscopy. These sites as well as those of Ti and Cr sites are active and selective for the peroxide oxidation of styrene and methyl methacrylate to benzaldehyde and methyl pyruvate, respectively.

Wenzhong Zhang

Papers

Transition metal substituted derivatives of cubic MCM-48 mesoporous molecular sieves