The applicability of the MIR spectroscopy for aluminosilicate structures de
scription of some natural zeolites has been shown in this work. The suitabi
lity of the spectra for a "convenient" recognition and identification of th
e kind of SiO4 and AlO4 tetrahedra rings predominating in a given zeolite s
tructure has been described. The interpretation process was supported by th
e decomposition of the spectra into component bands. The estimation of Si:A
I ratio in zeolites and the degree of ordering in the sequence of both buil
ding space framework tetrahedra can be done on the basis of parameters (ban
d position and intensity) of the main bands due to SI(AI)-O bond vibrations
.
The results based on the spectra of zeolites were then compared with the da
ta obtained in the previous works on potassium aluminosilicates (also havin
g framework structures thought not classified as zeolites) and ring silicat
es (containing isolated silicooxygen rings). Such comparison allows to draw
more general conclusions relating to the interpretation of MIR spectra of
different silicate structures. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights re
served.