Acidity and active sites of Al-MCM-41

The influence of the aluminum contents of MCM-41 (Si/Al ratio varied between 2.7 and 69) on the coordination of Al, on the acidity, and on the catalytic properties is studied by (27)Al MAS NMR, temperature programmed desorption of ammonia, and the conversion of acetone. Based on TPDA results, an assignment of the peaks of desorption of ammonia is proposed. With low Al contents, the concentration of strong Bronsted acid sites, which are attributed to tetrahedral aluminum, increases with growing Al amounts. At higher Al contents, however, the number of strong acid sires decreases again. Besides usual strong Bronsted sites, TPDA reveals the existence of weak Bronsted and Lewis sites and of Lewis sites of a high acidic strength. Separation between the two types of sites of weak acidity is incomplete. In the temperature programmed decomposition of NH(4)-exchanged MCM-41 samples, strong Lewis acid sites temporarily re-adsorb ammonia generated by the thermal decomposition of the NH(4)(+) ions located at the Bronsted sites. Ammonia readsorption at Lewis sites results in a shift of the maximum of the TPDA peak to a higher temperature. Calcination of samples leads to the formation of strong Lewis sites at the expense of Bronsted sites. To evaluate the acidity of Al-MCM-41, recording of decomposition profiles has been extended to Ga- and Fe-MCM-41. Catalytic activity in the conversion of acetone reaches its maximum with the sample based on Al-MCM-41 with the molar Si/Al ratio of 6.85. Highly favored formation of isobutene points to a comparably high acidic strength of the active sites. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.