The Impact of Hydration and Dehydration on the Mobility and Location of Ibuprofen Molecules in the Voids of Ultra-Stable Zeolite Y

Mesoporous dealuminated zeolites are used as hosts for ibuprofen. This drug experiences high mobility when confined in mesopores, which is largely dependent on the water content. Zeolites are materials that are naturally hydrated under ambient conditions. Nitrogen adsorption and X-ray diffraction (XRD) show that the samples with the content of ibuprofen up to 38% have the guest phase residing only in mesopores. ¹H and ¹³C MAS NMR studies of samples in ambient conditions, after dehydration, and in hydration prove the impact of water for increased mobility of ibuprofen. Increased mobility of the introduced phase was also detected for samples with no water content. It was ascribed to ibuprofen located outside mesopores, which experiences a prolonged time of cooling to room temperature. This phenomenon is important for all the future uses of the melting method in guest-host systems and the future use of zeolites for biomedical applications.

State of the Art and Perspectives of Hierarchical Zeolites: Practical Overview of Synthesis Methods and Use in Catalysis

Microporous zeolites have proven to be of great importance in many chemical processes. Yet, they often suffer from diffusion limitations causing inefficient use of the available catalytically active sites. To address this problem, hierarchical zeolites have been developed, which extensively improve the catalytic performance. There is a multitude of recent literature describing synthesis of and catalysis with these hierarchical zeolites. This review attempts to organize and overview this literature (of the last 5 years), with emphasis on the most important advances with regard to synthesis and application of such zeolites. Special attention is paid to the most common and important 10- and 12-membered ring zeolites (MTT, TON, FER, MFI, MOR, FAU, and *BEA). In contrast to previous reviews, the research per zeolite topology is brought together and discussed here. This allows the reader to instantly find the best synthesis method in accordance to the desired zeolite properties. A summarizing graph is made available to enable the reader to select suitable synthesis procedures based on zeolite acidity and mesoporosity, the two most important tunable properties.

Acid Properties of Hierarchical Zeolites Y

The article reviews different strategies towards obtaining mesoporous zeolites Y: desilication; surfactant templating and assembly of zeolite crystals. The impact of those methods on physicochemical properties is covered, with a special focus on the acidity of the samples measured with infrared (IR) spectroscopy. The methods of characterization of acidity are presented. Quaternary ammonium cations used for desilication lead to obtaining crystalline; mesoporous and highly acidic zeolites. Si-OH-Al groups of extremely high acidity can be produced by calcination in a humid atmosphere. When the conditions are optimized, post-synthetic surfactant templating allows crystalline mesoporous zeolite to be obtained with no loss of material. All mesoporous zeolites Y proved to be active catalysts in liquid phase isomerization, catalytic cracking, and other reactions.

The Energetics of Surfactant-Templating of Zeolites

Mesoporosity can be conveniently introduced into zeolites by treating them in basic surfactant solutions. The apparent activation energy involved in the formation of mesopores in USY by surfactant-templating was determined using a combination of in situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction and ex situ gas adsorption. Additionally, techniques such as pH measurement and thermogravimetry/differential thermal analysis were employed to determine OH^- evolution and cetyltrimethylammonium ion (CTA⁺ ) uptake during the development of mesoporosity, thereby providing information about the different steps involved. The combination of both in situ and ex situ techniques has allowed determination of the apparent activation energies of the different processes involved in the mesostructuring of USY zeolites for the first time. Apparent activation energies are of the same order of magnitude (30-65 kJ mol^-1 ) as those involved in the crystallization of zeolites. Hence, important mechanistic insight into the surfactant-templating method was obtained.

Mesoporous Titanium-Silicalite Zeolite Containing Organic Templates as a Bifunctional Catalyst for Cycloaddition of CO2 and Epoxides

Mesoporous TS-1 (MTS-1) containing organic templates tetrapropylammonium hydroxide (TPAOH) and polydiallyldimethylammonium chloride is synthesized and treated with different concentrations of hydrochloric acid aqueous solution. The as-synthesized MTS-1 are characterized using X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, UV-vis, ¹³C cross-polarization/magic angle spinning (CP/MAS) NMR, thermogravimetry analysis, CO₂-temperature-programmed desorption (TPD), N₂ adsorption-desorption, X-ray fluorescence, and elemental analysis. The results of ¹³C CP/MAS NMR show that the structures of organic templates are retained after acid washing treatment. Not required to be removed by calcination, the organic templates embedded in MTS-1 can take the role of basic sites and activate carbon dioxide (CO₂), which is confirmed by FT-IR. Moreover, the amount of acid sites and basic sites in the samples before and after acid treatment is characterized by modified Hammett indicator method and CO₂-TPD, respectively. The results show that both the acidity and the basicity in the material are improved after acid washing. Thus, the sample after acid treatment contains two active sites: basic sites stemming from organic species and acid sites coming from framework Ti, which is beneficial to be used as a bifunctional catalyst in the cycloaddition reaction of CO₂ and epoxides. It is highly active in the cycloaddition reaction, in which the conversion of epichlorohydrin (ECH) could reach 97.8% and the selectivity of cyclic carbonate is 98.0% under 1.6 MPa at 393 K for 6 h when acetonitrile is used as a solvent. Moreover, the kinetics of the cycloaddition reaction are studied using ECH as a substrate by varying the reaction parameters. More importantly, the organic-inorganic hybrid catalyst is reusable and stable against leaching of organic species in the cycloaddition reaction.

Diffusion Study by IR Micro-Imaging of Molecular Uptake and Release on Mesoporous Zeolites of Structure Type CHA and LTA

The presence of mesopores in the interior of microporous particles may significantly improve their transport properties. Complementing previous macroscopic transient sorption experiments and pulsed field gradient NMR self-diffusion studies with such materials, the present study is dedicated to an in-depth study of molecular uptake and release on the individual particles of mesoporous zeolitic specimens, notably with samples of the narrow-pore structure types, CHA and LTA. The investigations are focused on determining the time constants and functional dependences of uptake and release. They include a systematic variation of the architecture of the mesopores and of the guest molecules under study as well as a comparison of transient uptake with blocked and un-blocked mesopores. In addition to accelerating intracrystalline mass transfer, transport enhancement by mesopores is found to be, possibly, also caused by a reduction of transport resistances on the particle surfaces.

Exploring Mass Transfer in Mesoporous Zeolites by NMR Diffusometry

With the advent of mesoporous zeolites, the exploration of their transport properties has become a task of primary importance for the auspicious application of such materials in separation technology and heterogeneous catalysis. After reviewing the potential of the pulsed field gradient method of NMR (PFG NMR) for this purpose in general, in a case study using a specially prepared mesoporous zeolite NaCaA as a host system and propane as a guest molecule, examples of the attainable information are provided.