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Letter
Nature Materials 7, 381 - 385 (2008)
Published online: 13 April 2008 | doi:10.1038/nmat2169
Subject Categories: Catalytic materials | Porous materials | Characterisation and analytical techniques | Computation, modelling and theory
A zeolite family with chiral and achiral structures built from the same building layer
Liqiu Tang1, Lei Shi1,2, Charlotte Bonneau1,2, Junliang Sun1,2, Huijuan Yue1,2, Arto Ojuva1, Bao-Lin Lee1, Mikael Kritikos1,2, Robert G. Bell3, Zoltán Bacsik4, Janos Mink4,5 & Xiaodong Zou1,2
Abstract
Porosity and chirality are two of the most important properties for materials in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry. Inorganic microporous materials such as zeolites have been widely used in ion-exchange, selective sorption/separation and catalytic processes. The pore size and shape in zeolites play important roles for specific applications1, 2, 3. Chiral inorganic microporous materials are particularly desirable with respect to their possible use in enantioselective sorption, separation and catalysis4. At present, among the 179 zeolite framework types reported, only three exhibit chiral frameworks5, 6, 7. Synthesizing enantiopure, porous tetrahedral framework structures represents a great challenge for chemists. Here, we report the silicogermanates SU-32 (polymorph A), SU-15 (polymorph B) (SU, Stockholm University) and a hypothetical polymorph C, all built by different stacking of a novel building layer. Whereas polymorphs B and C are achiral, each crystal of polymorph A exhibits only one hand and has an intrinsically chiral zeolite structure. SU-15 and SU-32 are thermally stable on calcination.
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