Enhancing shape selectivity without loss of activity - novel mesostructured ZSM5 catalysts for methylation of toluene to p-xyleneElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Experimental details, concentration of acid sites, in situ IR spectra obtained during toluene methylation and estimation of surface coverage. See DOI: 10.1039/c3cc46197a

An increase in p -xylene selectivity was observed without losing the catalytic activity over novel mesoporous nano-sized ZSM5 crystals covered with an external SiO 2 overlayer created by deposition of tetraethyl orthosilicate. Novel mesostructured ZSM5 catalysts with enhanced para selectivity and activity for methylation of toluene were developed.