Bronsted acid sites, reactions catalyzed zeolites

Mixed WOj/Al Oj/HY catalysts prepared by calcination of physically mixed WO3, Al Oj and HY zeolite showed unique behavior in the metathesis between ethene and 2-butene to produce propene [147]. Monomeric tetrahedrally coordinated surface tungstate species responsible for the metathesis activity were formed via the interaction with Bronsted acid sites of HY zeolite. Polytungstate clusters are supposed to be less active in the metathesis reaction. The best catalyst demonstrates the 2-butene conversion close to the thermodynamic equilibrium value ( 64%) at 453 K. The catalysts are bifunctional [148] they catalyze first isomerization of 1-butene to 2-butene and then cross-metathesis between 1-butene and 2-butene to produce propene and 2-pentene. 10%W03/Al203-70%HY exhibits the highest propene yield. 

Xylene Isomerization There are several mechanisms by which the three xylene isomers can be interconverted. The one that is of the greatest interest with respect to industrial applications is the so-called monomolecular or direct xylene isomerization route. This reaction is most commonly catalyzed by Bronsted acid sites in zeolitic catalysts. It is believed to occur as a result of individual protonation and methyl shift steps. 

Dealumination processes which leave residual extraframework aluminum in a Y-type zeolite result in a decrease in the overall number of Bronsted acid sites but an increase in the strength of the remaining acid sites. The net effect is an increase in activity for acid-catalyzed reactions up to a maximum at ca. 32 framework A1 atoms per unit cell. A model for strong Bronsted acidity is proposed which includes (i) the presence of framework Al atoms that have no other A1 atoms in a 4-membered ring and (ii) complex A1 cations in the cages. The essential role of extraframework aluminum is evident from recent studies in which framework A1 has been completely removed from zeolite-Y and by experiments on the related ZSM-20 zeolite. 

According to this scheme, the first step of the reaction is the formation of a hydrogen-bonded precursor FH B, followed by the protonation of the monomer, leading to the formation of FBH". Examples of this type are shown in Section IV.B, where the oligomerization of unsaturated molecules in protonie zeolites is discussed. It is important that this first step is common to other reactions catalyzed by Bronsted acid sites. For example, in Section IV.A, the formation of methyl-substituted benzene carbocations as intermediate species involved in the MTO process in Hp zeolite is diseussed. 

Co-Exchanged Zeolites. Hydrothermal durability of Co-zeolites usually depends on the nature of the parent zeolite, Co exchange level, preparation method, etc. Existence of both Co and Bronsted acid sites in zeolites can play a synergistic role for catalyzing NOx reduction reaction with HCs however, the protonic sites induce catalyst deactivation by Not only can the... 

A reaction that is catalyzed by a Bronsted acid site, or H, can often be accelerated by addition of a solid acid. Materials like ion-exchange resins, zeolites, and mixed metal oxides function as solid analogues of corrosive liquid acids (e.g., H2SO4 and HF) and can be used as acidic catalysts. For example, isobutylene (IB) reacts with itself to form dimers on cross-linked polyfstyrene-sulfonic acid), a strongly acidic solid polymer catalyst ... 

The acidic 10 and 12 membered ring zeolites (H-MOR, ZSM-5, ZSM-11) can also be used to catalyze the condensation of alkenes with aldehydes to form unsaturated alcohols, acetals etc. (Prins reaction)[92]. Chang et a/. [93] showed that this reaction involves in the initial step the activation of the aldehyde by a Bronsted acid site to generate an electrophilic species. The condensation with, e.g., isobutene leads then to a primary alcohol with a positive charge at the tertiary carbon atom. Elimination of water and addition of further aldehyde molecules may lead to a broad variety of products. Some of these reactions can be effectively blocked by chosing zeolites with the appropriate pore size [94,95]. 

Even though the synthesis of many medium pore SAPO molecular sieves are well documented, only SAPO-11 has been studied in detail with respect to its shape selectivity and catalytic activity in acid catalyzed reactions. The reaction of m-xylene on zeolites, besides its industrial importance, is abundantly described in literature not only because it provides information on the geometry of the zeolite channels, but also because it is considered as an appropriate reaction to give information on the acidic properties of solid catalysts. Both isomerization and disproportionation are catalyzed by Bronsted acid sites , the disproportionation reactions requiring stronger acid sites than isomerization reactions. Hence SAPO molecular sieves with medium acidity should give better selectivity for m-xylene isomerization than zeolites. 

The Diels-Alder cycloaddition reaction of dihydropyran with acrolein was performed in the presence of various H-form zeolites such as H-Faujasites, H-p, H-Mordenites which differ both in their shape selective as well as their acidic properties. The activity of the different catalysts was determined and the reaction products were identified. High 3delds in cycloadduct were obtained over dealuminated HY (Si/Al=15) and Hp (Si/Al=25) compared to HM (Si/Al=10). These results were accounted for in terms of acidity, shape selectivity and microporosity vs mesoporosity properties. The activity and the regioselectivity were then discussed in terms of frontier orbital interactions on the basis of MNDO calculations for thermal and catalyzed reactions by complexing the diene and the dienophile with Bronsted and Lewis acidic sites. From these calculations, Bronsted acidic sites appeared to be more efficient than Lewis acidic sites to achieve Diels-Alder reactions. 

The challenge is to identify the catalytically active sites for a specific acid-catalyzed reaction, to count them, and then to correlate the catalytic activity (expressed as reaction rate per unit catalyst surface) with the surface density of active sites. This task is quite easily solved in the case of zeolites, where it has been demonstrated that the number of Bronsted acid sites of a particular type (usually, those in A1—OH—Si bridges) could be quantitatively related to the rates of catalytic reactions [137]. 

Zeolite NU-87, if containing Bronsted-acid sites, is an active catalyst for a large variety of acid catalyzed reactions hke toluene disproportionation, alkylation of benzene with ethylene, amination of methanol to methylamines etc. [51]. Moreover, it was found to possess interesting shape selective properties in the conversion of m-xylene [52] and of polynuclear aromatics, e.g. methylnaphtha-lenes [53]. On non-acidic (i.e. Cs+-exchanged) zeolite NU-87, loaded with small amounts of platinum, n-alkanes like n-hexane or n-octane can be dehydrocycliz-ed in high yields to the corresponding aromatics [54]. 

T ivalent and ammonium forms of Y zeolite possess catalytic activities for many acid-catalyzed reactions 11, 12, 16, 19). Although it is generally accepted that acidic hydroxyl groups are responsible for the activity of the calcined ammonium form 4, 6,19, 24), the reasons for the activity of the cation forms have been less well elucidated 6, 7, 9,15,19, 20, 25). Since the catalytic activity of the divalent cation forms usually is exhibited when suflBcient cations have been introduced so as to occupy accessible positions in the lattice, it has been suggested that various properties of the cations may be responsible for the introduction of active sites. Properties of the cations such as their electrostatic field and surface diffusion have been suggested 12, 15). Alternatively, it has been suggested that the divalent cations can introduce Bronsted acidity by dissociation of water 3, 5, 6,18,19, 20), thus... 

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