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Synthesis of ‘unfeasible’ zeolites

Nature Chemistry volume 8, pages 58–62 (2016)Cite this article

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Abstract

Zeolites are porous aluminosilicate materials that have found applications in many different technologies. However, although simulations suggest that there are millions of possible zeolite topologies, only a little over 200 zeolite frameworks of all compositions are currently known, of which about 50 are pure silica materials. This is known as the zeolite conundrum—why have so few of all the possible structures been made? Several criteria have been formulated to explain why most zeolites are unfeasible synthesis targets. Here we demonstrate the synthesis of two such ‘unfeasible’ zeolites, IPC-9 and IPC-10, through the assembly–disassembly–organization–reassembly mechanism. These new high-silica zeolites have rare characteristics, such as windows that comprise odd-membered rings. Their synthesis opens up the possibility of preparing other zeolites that have not been accessible by traditional solvothermal synthetic methods. We envisage that these findings may lead to a step change in the number and types of zeolites available for future applications.

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Figure 1: Synthesis of ‘unfeasible’ zeolites.
Figure 2: The role of choline cations in organizing IPC-1P layers.
Figure 3: Structures of IPC-9 and IPC-10.
Figure 4: The energetics of IPC-9 and IPC-10.

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Acknowledgements

R.E.M. thanks the Royal Society and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (Grants EP/L014475/1, EP/K025112/1 and EP/K005499/1) for funding work in this area. J.Č. and P.N. acknowledge the Czech Science Foundation for the project of the Centre of Excellence (P106/12/G015) and the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/ 2007–2013) under Grant Agreement No. 604307. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme under Grant Agreement No. 312483—ESTEEM2 (Integrated Infrastructure Initiative–I3). W.J.R. thanks his current institution, Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Faculty of Chemistry. We thank W. Zhou and F. Yu for their expertise in TEM and D. Dawson for help with NMR spectroscopy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, v.v.i., Dolejškova 3, Prague 8, 182 23, Czech Republic

    Michal Mazur, Wieslaw J. Roth, Pavla Eliášová & Jiří Čejka

  2. EaStCHEM School of Chemistry, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, KY16 9ST, UK

    Paul S. Wheatley, Marta Navarro & Russell E. Morris

  3. Department of Physical and Macromolecular Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Hlavova 8, Prague 2, 128 43, Czech Republic

    Miroslav Položij & Petr Nachtigall

  4. Advanced Microscopy Laboratory (LMA), Nanoscience Institute of Aragon (INA), University of Zaragoza, Mariano Esquillor, Edificio I+D, Zaragoza, 50018, Spain

    Alvaro Mayoral

Authors
  1. Michal Mazur
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  2. Paul S. Wheatley
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  9. Jiří Čejka
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  10. Russell E. Morris
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Contributions

M.M., P.E. and W.J.R. completed the synthesis aspects of the work and P.S.W. coordinated the characterization of the prepared materials. M.P. completed the computational modelling under the supervision of P.N. M.N. and A.M. completed the aberration-corrected electron microscopy studies. J.Č. and R.E.M. coordinated the project as a whole and wrote the paper.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jiří Čejka or Russell E. Morris.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Supplementary information (PDF 2752 kb)

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Supplementary Movie 1 (MOV 6549 kb)

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Supplementary Movie 2 (MOV 9144 kb)

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Supplementary Movie 3 (MOV 12673 kb)

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Crystallographic data for compound IPC9 (CIF 22 kb)

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Crystallographic data for compound IPC10 (CIF 12 kb)

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Mazur, M., Wheatley, P., Navarro, M. et al. Synthesis of ‘unfeasible’ zeolites. Nature Chem 8, 58–62 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.2374

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