Synthetic Silicate Zeolites Diverse Materials Accessible Through Geoinspiration

Synthetic Silicate Zeolites Diverse Materials Accessible Through Geoinspiration 

Porous Materials Edited by Duncan W. Bruce, Dermot O Hare and Richard I. Walton 2011 John Wiley Sons, Ltd. 

All this diversity does not primarily come from nature. Although zeohtes exist as minerals and have been known for more than 150 years, natural zeolites cover only a small fraction of the structures, properties, chemical compositions and applications that zeolite scientists have been able to confer on their synthetic zeolites during chiefly around half a century of efforts. Undoubtedly, these efforts have been inspired by the knowledge of natural zeolites and promoted by the early success of synthetic zeolites in the petrochemical industry, but later on also by the challenge and fun of discovering new zeolite structures, compositions, properties and applications. 

Source Web of Science (papers) and Derwent Innovation Index (patents), October 2008, used with permission. The inset shows the number of Framework Type Codes (FTCs) collected in the different editions of the Atlas of Zeolite Framework Types plus the number of FTCs already approved by the Structure Commission of the International Zeolite Association in November 2008 (http //www.iza-structure.org/) 

Web of Science and around 1000 zeolite related patents per year can be found under the same Topic search in the Derwent Innovation Index . The number of new Zeolite Framework Type Codes (FTCs, see below) also grows fast, with an average of over 7 FTCs per year for the last 12 years. This chapter tries to cover a vast portion of zeolite science at an intermediate level, with a focus on and more in-depth coverage of zeolite synthesis. The chapter is organised in, perhaps, a less usual way, since the general sections on structural and compositional chemistry and applications go before the more specific sections on synthesis. We think the early sections will show that the vast richness of current zeolite science and applications heavily rehes on an enormous synthetic effort that we will try to summarise and rationalise in the later sections. 

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