Shape-selective methylation of aromatics for environmentally friendly synthesis of specialty chemicals over zeolite catalysts

摘要

As summarized by the recent “Technology Vision 2020” report, catalysis is used in making over 60% of the products and accounts for 90% of the manufacturing process in the U.S. chemical industry, which generates 7,000 different products [1,2]. Zeolite catalysis plays a very important role for environmentally benign chemical processing, because it can provide spatial control leading to desirable products in hydrocarbon processing and chemicals synthesis. Since the pioneering studies reported by Paul B. Weisz and coworkers [3], shape selective conversion of acyclic and monocyclic compounds over various zeolites have been studied extensively, as summarized in many reviews [4-9]. However, for the shape-selective methylation of aromatics, it is still a change to prepare the catalyst with high selectivity and stability. In this paper, we summarize the recent studies on shape-selective catalysis for methylation of aromatics in our group.