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Sala A, Jordá JL, Sastre G, Llamas-Saiz AL, Rey F, Valencia S. Sugar-based synthesis of an enantiomorphically pure zeolite. Nat Commun 2024; 15:5298. [PMID: 38906859 PMCID: PMC11192950 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-49659-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2023] [Accepted: 06/05/2024] [Indexed: 06/23/2024] Open
Abstract
Zeolites, well-known by their high selectivities in catalytic and separation processes due to their porous nature, play a crucial role in various applications. One significant long-term objective is the synthesis of enantiopure zeolites, potentially enabling enantioselective processes. Earlier attempts result in partial success, yielding some enantiomorphically enriched zeolites. In this study, we introduce a zeolite synthesis approach utilizing chiral organic structure directing agents (ch-OSDAs) derived from sugars, guiding the crystallization process toward achieving enantiomorphically pure S-STW zeolite. The purity of the zeolite is confirmed through extensive analyses of individual crystals using single-crystal X-ray diffraction, extracting Flack parameters and space groups. Theoretical and structural investigations confirm that the sugar-derived ch-OSDA perfectly fits the characteristic helicoidal channel of the zeolite structure, featuring its efficacy in achieving enantiopure zeolites.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrés Sala
- Instituto de Tecnología Química, Universitat Politècnica de València - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (UPV-CSIC), Av. de los Naranjos, s/n, Valencia, Spain
| | - José L Jordá
- Instituto de Tecnología Química, Universitat Politècnica de València - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (UPV-CSIC), Av. de los Naranjos, s/n, Valencia, Spain
| | - German Sastre
- Instituto de Tecnología Química, Universitat Politècnica de València - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (UPV-CSIC), Av. de los Naranjos, s/n, Valencia, Spain
| | - Antonio L Llamas-Saiz
- Unidad de Rayos X (Área Infraestructuras Investigación), Universidad de Santiago de Compostela; Edificio CACTUS, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
| | - Fernando Rey
- Instituto de Tecnología Química, Universitat Politècnica de València - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (UPV-CSIC), Av. de los Naranjos, s/n, Valencia, Spain.
| | - Susana Valencia
- Instituto de Tecnología Química, Universitat Politècnica de València - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (UPV-CSIC), Av. de los Naranjos, s/n, Valencia, Spain.
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Pérez-Botella E, Valencia S, Rey F. Zeolites in Adsorption Processes: State of the Art and Future Prospects. Chem Rev 2022; 122:17647-17695. [PMID: 36260918 PMCID: PMC9801387 DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.2c00140] [Citation(s) in RCA: 67] [Impact Index Per Article: 33.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
Abstract
Zeolites have been widely used as catalysts, ion exchangers, and adsorbents since their industrial breakthrough in the 1950s and continue to be state-of the-art adsorbents in many separation processes. Furthermore, their properties make them materials of choice for developing and emerging separation applications. The aim of this review is to put into context the relevance of zeolites and their use and prospects in adsorption technology. It has been divided into three different sections, i.e., zeolites, adsorption on nanoporous materials, and chemical separations by zeolites. In the first section, zeolites are explained in terms of their structure, composition, preparation, and properties, and a brief review of their applications is given. In the second section, the fundamentals of adsorption science are presented, with special attention to its industrial application and our case of interest, which is adsorption on zeolites. Finally, the state-of-the-art relevant separations related to chemical and energy production, in which zeolites have a practical or potential applicability, are presented. The replacement of some of the current separation methods by optimized adsorption processes using zeolites could mean an improvement in terms of sustainability and energy savings. Different separation mechanisms and the underlying adsorption properties that make zeolites interesting for these applications are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Fernando Rey
- . Phone: +34 96 387 78 00.
Fax: +34 96 387 94
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Ghanbari B, Kazemi Zangeneh F, Sastre G, Moeinian M, Marhabaie S, Taheri Rizi Z. Computational elucidation of the aging time effect on zeolite synthesis selectivity in the presence of water and diquaternary ammonium iodide. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2021; 23:21240-21248. [PMID: 34542551 DOI: 10.1039/d1cp01921j] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
An example of zeolite selectivity (MFI → MOR) driven by synthesis aging time has been studied. Using N,N,N',N'-tetramethyl-N,N'-dipropyl-ethylenediammonium diiodide (TMDP) as an organic structure-directing agent (OSDA), the zeolite phases obtained at 2 h (MFI 97%), 8 h (MFI 84%, MOR 16%) and 24 h (MFI 43%, MOR 57%) have been characterized by powder X-ray diffraction. The results suggest that at intermediate aging time, namely 8 h and 24 h, the dominant phase (MFI) is displaced by MOR. Different techniques (FT-IR, Raman, 13C MAS NMR, TGA/DTG and HC microanalysis) have been employed to verify the OSDA integrity and occlusion inside the zeolite micropores as well as to quantify the water and OSDA loading. The 1H MAS NMR of the as-made occluded zeolite was compared with the spectra of TMDP and the recovered OSDA from the sample by extraction with water. The comparison indicated that TMDP was not structurally intact, indicating the chemical transformation of TMDP to imidazolinium homologues through the Hofmann degradation process. Furthermore, careful acidic breakdown of the aluminosilicate shell, covered on the zeolite samples by hydrofluoric acid, revealed that the remaining OSDA had been partially degraded to lower molecular weight ammonium salt, confirmed by 1H NMR and mass spectrometry measurements. A computational study was performed by using a force field based methodology, including accurate loading of water and OSDA in the zeolite (MFI and MOR) unit cells. The results show an important contribution of the presence of water. The samples with larger aging time (8 h and 24 h) incorporate less water and show partial TMDP degradation, whilst at the shortest aging time (2 h), there is a larger water content and TMDP remains intact. The larger accessible volume of MFI justifies that this is the dominant phase at short aging times (large water content) since it can accommodate a larger number of water molecules than MOR. The OSDA partial degradation also plays a role. At longer aging times the partial OSDA decomposition has been considered in the models by including TMDP + Imidaz, which is more stabilized by MOR, whilst at shorter aging times the only OSDA present, TMDP, is better stabilized by MFI.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bahram Ghanbari
- Department of Chemistry, Sharif University of Technology, PO Box 11155-3516, Tehran, Iran.
| | | | - German Sastre
- Instituto de Tecnologia Quimica U.P.V.-C.S.I.C., Universidad Politecnica de Valencia, Avenida Los Naranjos s/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain
| | - Maryam Moeinian
- Department of Chemistry, Sharif University of Technology, PO Box 11155-3516, Tehran, Iran.
| | - Sina Marhabaie
- Laboratoire des biomolécules, LBM, Département de chimie, École normale supérieure, PSL University, Sorbonne Université, CNRS, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Zahra Taheri Rizi
- Research Institute of Petroleum Industry, West Blvd. of Azadi Complex, Tehran 1485733111, Iran
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Schwalbe-Koda D, Gómez-Bombarelli R. Benchmarking binding energy calculations for organic structure-directing agents in pure-silica zeolites. J Chem Phys 2021; 154:174109. [PMID: 34241075 DOI: 10.1063/5.0044927] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Molecular modeling plays an important role in the discovery of organic structure-directing agents (OSDAs) for zeolites. By quantifying the intensity of host-guest interactions, it is possible to select cost-effective molecules that maximize binding toward a given zeolite framework. Over the last few decades, a variety of methods and levels of theory have been used to calculate these binding energies. Nevertheless, there is no consensus on the best calculation strategy for high-throughput virtual screening undertakings. In this work, we compare binding affinities from density functional theory (DFT) and Dreiding force field calculations for 272 zeolite-OSDA pairs obtained from static and time-averaged simulations. Enabled by automation software, we show that Dreiding binding energies from the frozen pose method correlate best with DFT energies. They are also less sensitive to the choice of initial lattice parameters and optimization algorithms, as well as less computationally expensive than their time-averaged counterparts. Furthermore, we demonstrate that a broader exploration of the conformation space from molecular dynamics simulations does not provide significant improvements in binding energy trends over the frozen pose method despite being orders of magnitude more expensive. The code and benchmark data are open-sourced and provide robust and computationally efficient guidelines to calculating binding energies in zeolite-OSDA pairs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Schwalbe-Koda
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
| | - Rafael Gómez-Bombarelli
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
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León S, Sastre G. Computational Screening of Structure-Directing Agents for the Synthesis of Pure Silica ITE Zeolite. J Phys Chem Lett 2020; 11:6164-6167. [PMID: 32659095 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.0c01734] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
"Shape" was the first criterion claimed to explain the specificity between organic structure-directing agents (OSDAs) and zeolite micropores. With the advent of computational chemistry methods applied to study the effectiveness of SDA-zeolite combinations, "energy" (mainly van der Waals) became the most commonly invoked concept to explain the zeolite phase selectivity. The lower the energy, the better the SDA. In this study, we rescue the concept of shape, and we combine it with the concept of energy within the frame of a SDA screening approach to identify new SDAs for the synthesis of cage-based ITE zeolite. Once we identify an appropriate shape fingerprint, filtering through the SDA database can be done quickly and accurately. With the shape selection, an automated Monte Carlo software allows us to assess the suitability using the force-field-calculated zeo-SDA energy. The computational approach can be promptly applied to other cage-based zeolites.
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Affiliation(s)
- Santiago León
- Instituto de Tecnología Química (UPV-CSIC), Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Av. Naranjos s/n, 46022 Valencia Spain
| | - German Sastre
- Instituto de Tecnología Química (UPV-CSIC), Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Av. Naranjos s/n, 46022 Valencia Spain
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Muraoka K, Chaikittisilp W, Okubo T. Multi-objective de novo molecular design of organic structure-directing agents for zeolites using nature-inspired ant colony optimization. Chem Sci 2020; 11:8214-8223. [PMID: 34094176 PMCID: PMC8163217 DOI: 10.1039/d0sc03075a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Organic structure-directing agents (OSDAs) are often employed for synthesis of zeolites with desired frameworks. A priori prediction of such OSDAs has mainly relied on the interaction energies between OSDAs and zeolite frameworks, without cost considerations. For practical purposes, the cost of OSDAs becomes a critical issue. Therefore, the development of a computational de novo prediction methodology that can speed up the trial-and-error cycle in the search for less expensive OSDAs is desired. This study utilized a nature-inspired ant colony optimization method to predict physicochemically and/or economically preferable OSDAs, while also taking molecular similarity and heuristics of zeolite synthesis into consideration. The prediction results included experimentally known OSDAs, candidates having structures closely related to known OSDAs, and novel ones, suggesting the applicability of this approach. Inspired by the exploratory methods of ant colonies, adaptive optimization was employed to explore the chemical space for organic molecules that guide zeolite crystallization, giving both physicochemically and economically promising molecules.![]()
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Affiliation(s)
- Koki Muraoka
- Department of Chemical System Engineering, The University of Tokyo 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku Tokyo 113-8656 Japan
| | - Watcharop Chaikittisilp
- Department of Chemical System Engineering, The University of Tokyo 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku Tokyo 113-8656 Japan
| | - Tatsuya Okubo
- Department of Chemical System Engineering, The University of Tokyo 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku Tokyo 113-8656 Japan
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Gálvez-Llompart M, Gálvez J, Rey F, Sastre G. Identification of New Templates for the Synthesis of BEA, BEC, and ISV Zeolites Using Molecular Topology and Monte Carlo Techniques. J Chem Inf Model 2020; 60:2819-2829. [PMID: 32460488 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.0c00231] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
The presence of organic structure directing agents (templates) in the synthesis of zeolites allows the synthesis to be directed, in many cases, toward structures in which there is a large stabilization between the template and the zeolite micropore due to dispersion interactions. Although other factors are also important (temperature, pH, Si/Al ratio, etc.), systems with strong zeolite-template interactions are good candidates for an application of new computational algorithms, for instance those based in molecular topology (MT), that can be used in combination with large databases of organic molecules. Computational design of new templates allows the synthesis of existing and new zeolites to be expanded and refined. Three zeolites with similar 3-D large pore systems, BEA, BEC, and ISV, were selected with the aim of finding new templates for their selective syntheses. Using a training set of active and inactive templates (obtained from the literature) for the synthesis of target zeolites, it was possible to select chemical descriptors related to activity, meaning a good candidate template. With a discriminant function defined upon MT, the screening through a database of organic molecules led to a small subset (preselection) of candidate templates for the synthesis of BEA, BEC, and ISV. As far as we know, this is the first time that topological/topochemical descriptors, which do not consider 3-D information on the molecules, have been used to predict the activity of zeolite structure directing agents (SDAs). Following the prediction of SDAs using MT, an automated approach of sequential template filling of micropores based on a combination of Monte Carlo and lattice energy minimization was applied for all the candidate templates in the three zeolites. Two results can be obtained from this: an evaluation of the quality of the molecular topology QSAR models leading to the preselection of templates, and a final selection of candidate templates for the selective synthesis of BEA, BEC, and ISV. Regarding the latter, a good template will be that which maximizes the zeolite-template dispersion interactions with one, and only one, of the three zeolites. The presented methodology can be used to find alternative (maybe cheaper or perhaps more selective) templates than those already known.
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Affiliation(s)
- María Gálvez-Llompart
- Instituto de Tecnologı́a Quı́mica (UPV-CSIC), Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Avenida Naranjos s/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain.,Molecular Topology and Drug Design Unit, Department of Physical Chemistry, University of Valencia, 46010 Valencia, Spain
| | - Jorge Gálvez
- Molecular Topology and Drug Design Unit, Department of Physical Chemistry, University of Valencia, 46010 Valencia, Spain
| | - Fernando Rey
- Instituto de Tecnologı́a Quı́mica (UPV-CSIC), Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Avenida Naranjos s/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain
| | - German Sastre
- Instituto de Tecnologı́a Quı́mica (UPV-CSIC), Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Avenida Naranjos s/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain
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