Porous solids from layered clays by combined pillaring and templating approaches

The pore structure formation in bentonite, pillared with a mixed sol of silicon and titanium hydroxides and treated subsequently with quaternary ammonium surfactants, is investigated. The surfactant micelles act as a template, similar to their role in MCM41 synthesis. Because both the surfactant micelles and the sol particles are positively charged, it is greatly favorable for them to form meso-phase assembles in the galleries between the clay layers that bear negative charges. Besides, the sol particles do not bond the clay layers strongly as other kinds of pillar precursors do, so that the treatment with surfactants can result in radical structure changes in sol-pillared clays. This allows us to tailor the pore structure of these porous clays by choice of surfactant. The surfactant treatment also results in profound increases in porosity and improvement in thermal stability. Therefore, the product porous clays have great potential to be Used to deal with large molecules or at high operating temperatures. We also found that titanium in these samples is highly dispersed in the silica matrix rather than existing in the form of small particles of pure titania. Such highly dispersed Ti active centers may offer excellent activities for catalytic oxidation reactions such as alkanes into alcohols and ketones.

Structural tuning of Montmorillonite clays by pillaring: Designing of shape selective solid acid catalysts and PANI - Montmorillonite nanocomposites

Green chemistry boots eco-friendly,natural clays as catalysts in the chemical as well as in the pharmaceutical industry.Industry demands thermal stability,mechanical strength etc for the catalyst and there the modification methods becomes important.Pillaring tunes clays as efficient catalytic templates for shape selective organic synthesis.Here pillared clays are used as promising alternatives for the environmentally hazardous homogeneous catalysts in some industrially important Friedel-Crafts alkylation reactions of arenes with lower alchohols and higher olefins.The layer structure is enhanced upon pillaring and allows the nanocomposite formation with polyaniline to develop today’s nanoscale diameter devices.Present work gives an entry of pillared clays to the world of conducting composite nanofibers.

Segregated self-assembly and pillaring action of aliphatic dicarboxylic acids in the super structure of Cu-picolinate complexes

Three new supramolecular assemblies of co-crystallized metal complexes and aliphatic dicarboxylic acids, {[Cu(pic)(2)(H2O)(2)](H(2)mal)}(n) (1), {[Cu(pic)(2)(H2O)(2)](H(2)mal)(2)(H2O)(2)}(n) (2) and {[Cu(pic)(2)(MeOH)](H(2)succ)}(n) (3) {Hpic = 2-picolinic acid, H(2)mal = malonic acid and H(2)succ = succinic acid} have been synthesized and characterized by X-ray single-crystal structure determination. The crystal packings of the complexes reveal that supramolecular associations of the monomeric complex units lead to the formation of layers through hydrogen bonding. In all the complexes, the dicarboxylic acid units connect the 2-D layers to act as pillars. The interaction between water molecules and the dicarboxylic acid plays an important role in the overall supramolecular assembly. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Engineering the structures of nanoporous clays with micelles of alkyl polyether surfactants

Composite clay nanostructures (CCNs) were observed in intercalating Laponite clay with alumina in the presence of alkyl polyether surfactants which contain hydrophobic alkyl chains and ether groups. Such nanostructured clays are highly porous solids consisting of randomly orientated clay platelets intercalated with alumina nanoparticles. The pores in the product solids are larger than the dimension of the surfactant molecules, ranging from 2 to 10 nm. This suggests that the micelles of the surfactant molecules, rather than the molecules, act as templates in the synthesis. Interestingly, it is found that the size of the framework pores was directly proportional to the amount of the surfactants in terms of moles, but shows no evident dependence on the size of the surfactant molecules. Broad pore size distributions were observed for the product CCNs. This study demonstrates that introducing surfactants in the pillaring process of clays is a powerful strategy for tailoring the pore structures of nanoporous clays. With this new technique, it is possible to design and engineer such composite clay nanostructures with desired pore and surface properties by the proper choice of surfactant amounts and preparation conditions.

Materiales laminares pilareados: preparación y propiedades

The structure of several types of layered materials will be described. These include clays, layered double hydroxides, group IV metal phosphates and other layered materials. The preparation of the pillared materials and pillaring agents will be presented along with a description of the properties and applications of the products.

Pilarização de esmectita brasileira para fins catalíticos. Emprego de argila pilarizada na alquilação de benzeno com 1-dodeceno

Al-pillared clay was prepared with a Brazilian bentonite from the Campina Grande region (Paraíba, BRAZIL). It was intercalated at 298 K, during 48 hours, with a solution containing [Al3+] = 0.10 mol/L and molar ratio OH/Al = 2.0 prepared at 333 K, and was calcined at 773K. The catalytic activity was evaluated by alkylation of benzene with 1-dodecene. The characterization methods were: X-ray fluorescence and diffraction analysis; 27Al, 29Si and 23Na MAS NMR and textural analysis by N2 adsorption. The thermal stability of the natural clay was improved by the pillaring procedure, as well as the catalytic activity. The intercalated clay presented the highest initial rate of reaction among the systems tested.

Pilarização de uma argila brasileira com poliidroxications de alumínio: preparação, caracterização e propriedades catalíticas

Montmorillonite clay from Brazil was pillared with aluminium polyhydroxications. The influence of aging of the pillaring solution and the concentration of the clay suspension on the properties of the prepared materials was studied. The materials were characterized by chemical analysis, XRD and pore analysis by N2 adsorption. The catalytic properties were evaluated in the cumene cracking reaction. Results showed that the pillarization process increases the basal spaces of natural clay from 9.7 to 18.5 Å and the surface area from 41 to 300 m²/g.

Selective Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether Synthesis over Metal Exchanged Pillared Clays

Iron and mixed iron aluminium pillared montmorillonites prepared by partial hydrolysis method was subjected to room temperature exchange with transition metals of the first series. The materials exhibit good structural as well as thermal stability. Exchanged metals were found to be present inside the porous network, in the environs of the pillars. Mixed pillaring resulted in the intercalation of Al 13 like polymers in which Al is partially substituted by Fe. The acidic structure was followed by temperature programmed desorption of ammonia and cumene cracking test reaction. Weak and medium sites overshadow the strong sites in all systems. However, exchange with metals increases the number of strong sites. The prepared materials are efficient catalysts for gas phase MTBE synthesis. The catalytic activity can be well correlated with the total amount of weak and medium acid sites.

Organic Synthesis Mediated by Heterogeneous Catalysts

Catalysis is a technologically important field which determines the quality of life in future. Catalyst research in pharmaceutical industry,fine chemical synthesis and emission control demands supported catalysts in bulk quantities.In the present work it was observed that clay supported catalysts mentioned in various chapters could also be used for the synthesis of similar molecules. The K10Ti catalyst can be used for the synthesis similar substituted imidazole derivatives under solvent free conditions and synthetically important Mannich bases of substrates containing various substitutes.Al-pillared saponite can be used for acetalation of other polyhydroxy compounds like glycerol,mannitol etc.Cu-Pd KSF catalyst has found application in C-C bond forming reactions which can be applied to other reactions and similar methods can be adopted for the synthesis of other catalyst by changing the transition metals. Montmorillonite K10 catalysed synthesis of triarylpyridines can be extended to the synthesis tetrasubstuted pyroles.K10Ti can also be utilized for the synthesis of similar heterocycles.

"Catalysis by pillared montmorillonites exchanged with transition metals"

The present work is oriented to obtain a comparative evaluation of the physicochemical properties and catalytic activities of iron, aluminium and iron aluminium mixed pillared montmorillonites and their transition metal exchanged analogues. Reactions of industrial importance like Friedel Crafts alkylations, catalytic wet peroxide oxidation of phenol and MTBE synthesis have been selected for the present study. The thesis is structured into seven chapters. First chapter deals with a brief introduction and literature survey on pillared clays. Second chapter explains the materials and methods employed in the work. Results and discussions on the characterisation techniques are described in the third chapter. The subsequent three chapters describe the catalytic activities of pillared clays in the industrially important reactions. Last chapter comprises the summary of the investigations and the conclusions drawn from the earlier chapters

Catalysis by Modified Pillared Clays and Porous Clay Heterostructures

In this venture three distinct class of catalysts such as, pillared clays and transition metal loaded pillared clays , porous clay heterostructures and their transition metal loaded analogues and DTP supported on porous clay heterostructures etc. were prepared and characterized by various physico chemical methods. The catalytic activities of prepared catalysts were comparatively evaluated for the industrially important alkylation, acetalization and oxidation reactions.The general conclusions drawn from the present investigation are  Zirconium, iron - aluminium pillared clays were synthesized by ion exchange method and zirconium-silicon porous heterostructures were Summary and conclusions 259 prepared by intergallery template method. Transition metals were loaded in PILCs and PCHs by wet impregnation method.  Textural and acidic properties of the clays were modified by pillaring and post pillaring modifications.  The shift in 2θ value to lower range and increase in d (001) spacing indicate the success of pillaring process.  Surface area, pore volume, average pore size etc. increased dramatically as a result of pillaring process.  Porous clay heterostructures have higher surface area, pore volume, average pore diameter and narrow pore size distribution than that of pillared clays.  The IR spectrum of PILCs and PCHs are in accordance with literature without much variation compared to parent montmorillonite which indicate that basic clay structure is retained even after modification.  The silicon NMR of PCHs materials have intense peaks corresponding to Q4 environment which indicate that mesoporous silica is incorporated between clay layers.  Thermo gravimetric analysis showed that thermal stability is improved after the pillaring process. PCH materials have higher thermal stability than PILCs.  In metal loaded pillared clays, up to 5% metal species were uniformly dispersed (with the exception of Ni) as evident from XRD and TPR analysis. Chapter 9 260  Impregnation of transition metals in PILCs and PCHs enhanced acidity of catalysts as evident from TPD of ammonia and cumene cracking reactions.  For porous clay heterostructures the acidic sites have major contribution from weak and medium acid sites which can be related to the Bronsted sites as evident from TPD of ammonia.  Pillared clays got more Lewis acidity than PCHs as inferred from α- methyl styrene selectivity in cumene cracking reaction.  SEM images show that layer structure is preserved even after modification. Worm hole like morphology is observed in TEM image of PCHs materials  In ZrSiPCHS, Zr exists as Zr 4+ and is incorporated to silica pillars in the intergallary of clay layers as evident from XPS analysis.  In copper loaded zirconium pillared clays, copper exists as isolated species with +2 oxidation state at lower loading. At higher loading, Cu exists as clusters as evident from reduction peak at higher temperatures in TPR.  In vanadium incorporated PILCs and PCHs, vanadium exist as isolated V5+ in tetrahedral coordination which is confirmed from TPR and UVVis DRS analysis.  In cobalt loaded PCHs, cobalt exists as CoO with 2+ oxidation state as confirmed from XPS.  Cerium incorporated iron aluminium pillared clay was found to be the best catalyst for the hydroxylation of phenol in aqueous media due to the additional surface area provided by ceria mesopores and its redox properties. Summary and conclusions 261  Cobalt loaded zirconium porous clay heterostructures were found to be promising catalyst for the tertiary butylation of phenol due to higher surface area and acidic properties.  Copper loaded pillared clays were found to be good catalyst for the direct hydroxylation of benzene to phenol.  Vanadium loaded PCHs catalysts were found to be efficient catalysts for oxidation of benzyl alcohol.  DTP was firmly fixed on the mesoporous channels of PCHs by Direct method and functionalization method.  DTP supported PCHs catalyst were found to be good catalyst for acetalization of cyclohexanone with more than 90% conversion.

Argilas modificadas como catalisadores ácidos sólidos

Important bentonitic deposits are present in Porto Santo Island, part of the Madeira Archipelago. Several locations were selected and samples were collected and characterised. The bentonite obtained at Serra de Dentro (SD) was selected for further laboratorial work. The fine fraction of SD bentonite was purified using several methods and the sodium homoionic form was prepared. This was the starting material used in the three generic types of modifications: metal exchange, acid activation and pillaring. These modifications produce materials with markedly different acidic (e.g. Brönsted and/or Lewis acidity), textural (e.g. increase of the surface area and active site accessibility) or structural (e.g. creation of permanent porous structures) properties. The wide range of materials obtained (including reference clays counterparts) was characterised in terms of chemical, structural, textural and catalytic properties. Limonene is an important raw material produced in Portugal, and its aromatisation reaction was chosen for the catalytic characterisation of the clay catalysts prepared.

Síntese de zeólitas e argilas ácidas pilarizadas a partir de matérias primas naturais

Structural changes in waste for zeolites synthesis are subject of many studies carried out in the synthesis of molecular sieves. These materials are named molecular sieves because they have well defined pore sizes and they have the capacity of select molecules by its size. In this work, it was studied the synthesis processes of two types of molecular sieves: pillared acid clays using as starting material one natural montmorillonite clay and the synthesis of zeolites from a silico-aluminous residue. This residue is a byproduct of the extraction of lithium -spodumene. The preparation of pillared acid clays was performed in two steps: 1° acid treatment of clay samples (time and temperature studies) and 2°pilarization of them with Al13 (Keggin ion). The temperature and acid concentration affect the removal of cations in the structure and porosity of the material obtained. The analysis of X-ray diffraction (XRD) and infrared spectroscopy (IR), showed that increasing the severity of the acid treatment compromises the structural material. Also the pore size distribution is approximately uniform. Despite presenting a structural disorganization, the samples were pillared. As evidenced by XRD increasing the basal spacing, specific area and uniform porosity by adsorption of N2. Regarding the microporous molecular sieves were synthesized zeolites A and NaP1 from a silico-aluminous residue, a byproduct of extracting lithium. The temperature and time of agitation during the synthesis were the most important factors for obtaining zeolite A. The aging of the gel and the highest crystallization time promoted the formation of zeolite NaP1 using a Si / Al ratio = 3.2

Síntese e caracterização de argilas pilarizadas com pilares mistos Al/Co

Two pillaring methods were tested to synthesize pillared clays containing mixed Al/Co pillars. Using the first method, based on the traditional procedure, were obtained materials containing different Co concentrations: 10, 25, 50, 75 and 100 % of Co in the pillaring solution. Just the experiments with low concentrations (10 and 25 % of Co) has formed pillared clays, whereas the sample with 25 % of cobalt showed best results compared with the one obtained just using Al as pillaring agent (basal spacing higher than 18 Å and surface area bigger than 300 m²/g). The 27Al NMR results pointed out the formation of mixed Al/Co pillars due to decreased between the intensities of AlVI/AlIV signals, indicating that the AlIV content decreased while Co content increased, suggesting the isomorphic substitution of Al atoms for Co in the Keggin ion structure (pillaring agent). For the samples containing 75 and 100 % of cobalt, it was verified the formation of others materials, which could be identified as hydrotalcite like compounds. The second pillarization method was named mixed layers, because the objective was to intercalate clay layers with hydrotalcite layers. Thus, after calcination, the hydrotalcite layers would dehydroxylate, resulting just in the metals oxides, intercalated between the clay sheets, thus generating, a pillared clay. For this purpose, were tested 4 synthesis procedures: physical mixture, mixture in water, ionic exchange under reflux and in situ synthesis. Of these, the method which showed the best results was the in situ synthesis, in which basal spacings of 14 Å (after calcination) were obtained, indicating that the samples are intercalated with metal oxides (Mg and Al). This procedure was reproduced with a Co-Al LDH (layered double hydroxide) and similar results were obtained, testifying the method reproducibility

Influência da temperatura de formação do íon de Keggin no processo de pilarização de esmectitas

As amostras de esmectita do estado do Pará, Amazônia, Brasil foram caracterizados utilizando XRD, FTIR e análise textural por curvas isotérmicas adsorpition-desorption nitrogênio. Na produção das argilas pilarizadas foi usado o íon Al,₁₃ (o íon de keggin), este íon foi obtido pela reação das soluções AlC_l36H₂O/aOH, com razão molar OH/Al=2, com intercalação em temperatura ambiente, durante as 3 horas e calcinada em 450ºC (temperatura adequada da calcinação). O material foi preparado utilizando soluções produzidas na faixa de temperatura de 25, 45, 65, 85, 105ºC, o Resultado mostrou que o processo de pilarização aumenta o espaçamento basal da argila natural de 14,02 para 19,74 Å e a área superficial de 44,30 para 198,03m,²/g. a estabilidade térmica da argila natural foi melhorada pelo procedimento de pilarização.