Reaction of meta-diisopropylbenzene on acid molecular sieves and synthesis of zeolites by a vapor phase transport method

Meta-diisopropylbenzene is reacted with propylene over the acid form of the molecular sieves SAPO-5, mordenite, offretite, beta, hexagonal and cubic faujasite (hex and FAU), L, SAPO-37, and an amorphous silica-alumina at temperatures around 463 K in a flow-type fixed-bed reactor. A small amount of cracking is observed. The main reactions of meta-diisopropylbenzene are isomerization and alkylation. This alkylation is proposed as a new test reaction to characterize the effective size of the voids in larger pore (12 T-atom rings or above) molecular sieves by measuring the amount ratio of formed 1,3,5- to 1,2,4-triisopropylbenzene. In most cases, this ratio increases with the increasing effective void size of the molecular sieves in the order: SAPO-5 < mordenite < offretite < beta < hex ≈ FAU < L < SAPO-37 < amorphous silica-alumina. Since samples with the FAU topology show lower selectivities to 1,3,5-triisopropylbenzene than the mesoporous, amorphous silica-alumina, pore curvature has an influence on alkylation selectivity even for voids of 13 A size.