| Zeolites, pillared-clays, and mesoporous crystalline
materials (MCM) can act as molecular sieving catalysts to greatly promote
selectivity of multi-step reactions.
These microporous materials
possess pore diameters ranging from 0.74 nm to 4.0 nm, which are close to
the molecular diameter of glucose (0.86 nm). We are exploring the use of molecular sieving
catalysts to promote the shape-selective conversion of glucose to industrially
significant oxygenated hydrocarbons such as organic acids and alcohols.For example, the shape-selective dehydration
of glucose to linear organic acids within a solid-acid molecular sieving
catalyst is shown below. |
