New micro- and mesoporous materials based on VOPO4 chemistry

A brief review of porosity in zeolites, pillared layers and the new mesopor ous materials serves as an introduction to the present study. A dark green- layered vanadyl phosphate of composition [(VO)(3)(PO4)(3)(H2O)(3)]. 4H(2)O was prepared hydrothermally. It was found to intercalate close to 3 mols of amine per VOPO4 unit. These amine-intercalated phases react with inorganic polymers in alcohol as the solvent under reflux to yield both micro- and m esoporous materials. These reactions exhibit features of both pillaring and template guided reactions. Materials with very narrow pore distributions a re obtained by an, as yet, undetermined mechanism. Thermal treatment leads to larger pores with a still narrow pore size distribution. The goal is to prepare catalytically active porous materials with pore diameters in the 10 -20 Angstrom range. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.