Lewis acids, solid superacids from

Solid Superacids. Most large-scale petrochemical and chemical industrial processes ate preferably done, whenever possible, over soHd catalysts. SoHd acid systems have been developed with considerably higher acidity than those of acidic oxides. Graphite-intercalated AlCl is an effective sohd Friedel-Crafts catalyst but loses catalytic activity because of partial hydrolysis and leaching of the Lewis acid halide from the graphite. Aluminum chloride can also be complexed to sulfonate polystyrene resins but again the stabiUty of the catalyst is limited. 

The acidic sites of solid acids may be of either the Brpnsted (proton donor, often OH group) or Lewis type (electron acceptor). Both types have been identified by IR studies of solid surfaces using the pyridine adsorption method. The absorption band at 1460 cm 1 is assigned to pyridine coordinated with the Lewis acid site, and another absorption at 1540 cm 1 is attributed to the pyridinium ion resulting from the protonation of pyridine by the Brpnsted acid sites. Various solids displaying acidic properties, whose acidities can be enhanced to the superacidity range, are listed in Table 2.6. 

Solid catalysts can be used at elevated temperatures, though their acidities are much weaker than those of liquid ones. From this point of view, solid superacids based on Lewis acids and liquid superacids discussed in Sections II—1V are not sufficiently stable Nafion-H is also unsatisfactory, its maximum operating temperature being below 200°C. A new type of the sulfate-supported metal oxides is more stable because of preparatory heat treatment at high temperatures, but elimination of the sulfate is sometimes observed during reaction, thus it is hoped to synthesize superacids with the system of metal oxides. Another type of superacid, tungsten or molybdenum oxide supported on zirconia, has been prepared by a new preparation method, and its stability is satisfactory so far. It is hoped that the preparation method will be extensively applied to other metal oxides for new solid superacids. 

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