Activity and Shape Selectivity of Delaminated Zeolite UCB-1 for Alkylation of Aromatics

MWW-type materials are investigated as catalysts for alkylation of aromatics. The active sites for the alkylation of benzene with propylene catalyzed by MCM-22 are hypothesized based on previous literature to be on or near the external surface, and not in the pores.  Exfoliated zeolites are a relatively new class of materials on which adsorption occurs primarily on the external surface and not inside the pores.  These zeolites are of interest catalytically because they comprise large, crystalline external surfaces. The active sites that are on the external surface are accessible by larger reactant molecules and size constraints imposed by pore structure on larger product molecules have been reduced.  We investigate highly crystalline exfoliated materials based on MCM-22 precursor for catalytic alkylation of aromatics.  Our results compare the activity (per mass of catalyst) and selectivity of the exfoliated zeolite with the calcined three-dimensional zeolite, in order to understand opportunities that exfoliated zeolites offer over conventional zeolites in catalysis of bulky reactants or products.