Restructuring Surface Lewis Pairs of FAU Zeolite through N Doping for Boosting the Toluene Side-Chain Alkylation Performance

Toluene side-chain alkylation with methanol for the styrene monomer formation remains a great challenge. An optimal synergy between acidic and basic sites on zeolites is required for an efficient catalysis process. It is important to modulate the surface Lewis acid-base pairs precisely. Herein, we report a strategy to restructure the surface Lewis acid-base pairs in cesium-modified X zeolite (CsX) by N doping. In the process of toluene side-chain alkylation, the CsX-BN-600 catalyst, where N species is doped into the framework of the X zeolite, exhibits 2.7 times the styrene formation rate and a much better selectivity of 85.7% in comparison to the parent CsX of 70.1% selectivity to styrene at the same reaction conditions. The introduction of N species into zeolites acts as a new Lewis base site and optimizes the Lewis sites due to its ability of electron donation. Meanwhile, the frustrated Lewis pair (FLP) between the deprotonated framework nitrogen in X zeolite and positively polarized C species in the side-chain alkylation reaction is created. Furthermore, the N doping contributes to the generation of the active intermediates of HCOO* and H3CO*. These reasons favor the superiority of the catalyst through N doping.