THE DEHYDRATION OF THE ZEOLITE PAULINGITE

The dehydration process of the zeolite paulingite was investigated mea suring the reduction of the cell constants directly in an in situ expe riment on a single crystal X-ray diffractometer in a temperature range from 293 K to 523 K. The water loss occurs in two steps with a platea u at 393 K. The leveling off occurs after a unit cell reduction of 12% (a = 33.6 Angstrom). Distance-least-squares simulations were performe d to determine the most likely space group and the distortions of the partially dehydrated framework structure. The collapsed framework has symmetry I (4) over bar 3m and is characterized by elliptically deform ed single eight-rings. The double-eight rings show the same distortion as observed in dehydrated zeolite rho.