Synthesis of microporous faujasitic-like zincophosphates from reverse micelles

Synthesis of an open pore microporous zincophosphate X (ZnPO-X) with the fa ujasite topology using reverse micelles as nanoreactors is reported here fo r the first time. Previous attempts with Aerosol OT (AOT), the most commonl y used surfactant to make reverse micelles, led only to the formation of zi ncophosphate sodalite. Success in synthesizing ZnPO-X was realized using re verse micelles made with cationic surfactant dioctyldimethylammonium chlori de (DODMAC). Infra-red studies show that the water structure in DODMAC reve rse micelles resembles bulk water more so than AOT reverse micelles. Dynami c light scattering provides information on the crystal growth dynamics, whi ch suggests that nucleation occurs in a small fraction of the reverse micel les followed by growth by incorporation of nutrients from non-nucleated mic elles. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.