An introduction to pillared clays.

The synthesis, characterization and some applications in catalysis of pillared clays are described at an introductory level. The use of x-ray diffraction, surface area measurements, thermal analysis, IR spectrophotometry and solid-state NMR in the characterization of pillared clays is briefly discussed. Pillarization followed by doping or introduction of metal clusters into clays could lead to the development of selective heterogeneous catalysts.