SYNTHESIS, ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION OF ZSM-5 ZEOLITES WITH INTERNAL CATALYTIC INTERFACES FOR REGIOSELECTIVE SYNTHESES

RECENT EXPERIMENTS AT INRAD HAVE ENABLED US TO INCREASE SELECTIVITY FOR TERMINAL CHLORINATION OF ALKANES >25 FOLD BYSORBING THE ALKANES ON SOME CONVENTIONALLY SYNTHESIZED ZSM-5ZEOLITES. SELECTIVITY VARIED DRAMATICALLY DEPENDING ON THE SOURCE OF THE ZEOLITE ALTHOUGH THEY HAD SIMILAR BULK PROPERTIES. WE ASCRIBE THIS SELECTIVITY TO THE PRESENCE OF INTERFACES WITHIN THE CRYSTALS. OUR RESEARCH PLAN IS TO DESIGN AND SYNTHESIZE ZSM-5 ZEOLITE CRYSTALS WITH INTERNAL CATALYTIC INTERFACES SEPARATING AREASOF HIGH AND LOW AL CONCENTRATION. WE WILL ALSO ESTABLISH PHYSICAL TECHNIQUES, CONCENTRATING ON NMR, TO DEMONSTRATE THE PRESENCE AND EVALUATE THE QUALITY OF THESE INTERFACES. THE REACTIVE PROPERTIES OF THE ZEOLITE INTERFACES WILL BE STUDIED USING PHOTO INDUCED CHLORINATION AND OTHER REACTIONSUSING FLUIDIZED BED TECHNOLOGY. THE ABILITY TO USE ENGINEERED REACTIVE ZEOLITES TO MIMIC ENZYMES IN INDUSTRIAL SCALE REGIOSELECTIVE REACTIONS WOULD CONSERVE RAW MATERIALS, MINIMIZE WASTE PRODUCT GENERATION AND DECREASE ENERGY REQUIREMENTS.