High-silica nanocrystalline Beta zeolites: efficient synthesis and catalytic application

[EN] An efficient synthesis methodology to obtain homogeneous nanosized high-silica Beta zeolites ( 10¿20 nm) with high solid yields (above 95%) using simple alkyl-substituted flexible dicationic OSDAs is described. These dicationic OSDAs allow the synthesis of nanosized Beta zeolites with different Si/Al ratios (15¿30) in alkaline and fluoride media, resulting in nanocrystalline materials with different physicochemical properties. These nanosized Beta zeolites show better catalytic behavior towards the industrially-relevant alkylation of benzene with propylene to obtain cumene compared with other commercially available nanosized Beta zeolites. Financial support from the Spanish Government-MINECO through “Severo Ochoa” (SEV 2012-0267), Consolider Ingenio 2010-Multicat, MAT2012-37160 and, MAT2012-31657 is acknowledged. The European Union is also acknowledged by the SynCatMatch project (ERC-AdG-2014-671093). M.E.M-A. thanks MINECO for economical support through a pre-doctoral fellowship (BES-2013-066800). Martínez Franco, R.; Paris-Carrizo, CG.; Martínez Armero, ME.; Martínez, C.; Moliner Marin, M.; Corma Canós, A. (2015). High-silica nanocrystalline Beta zeolites: efficient synthesis and catalytic application. Chemical Science. 7(1):102-108. https://doi.org/10.1039/c5sc03019f