ZEOLITIC MATERIALS AS CATALYSTS FOR ORGANIC SYNTHESES

The major applications of zeolitic materials are as cation exchangers, selective adsorbents, catalysts and catalyst supports (mainly in cata lytic cracking, hydroisomerization and aromatics processing). Their us e in the synthesis of hydrocarbon intermediates and fine chemicals is at an earlier stage of research, although several international reunio ns and reviews have already shown the improvement achieved by using th ese solids in conventional catalytic processes. This improvement is fo und mainly in activity, selectivity and environmental concerns, new mo re environmentally friendly routes having been found for processes whi ch previously produced undesirable side reactions or high amounts of e nvironmentally hazardous residues (with the subsequent economic consid erations). More than a hundred references form the main body of the pr esent piece of work, which has three major objectives, the first of wh ich is to outline the main properties of zeolitic materials in relatio n to their use as catalysts in organic syntheses, the second to presen t an; up to date bibliographic review of their use for such purposes a nd the third to show the main improvements that these materials presen t with respect to the more conventional catalysts.