Synthesis of RTH-Type Zeolites Using a Diverse Library of Imidazolium Cations

Abstract

RTH-type zeolites are promising catalytic materials for applications that include the important methanol-to-olefins (MTO) and NOX reduction reactions. Here, RTH-type zeolites are prepared using a wide-range of imidazolium-based, cationic organic structure directing agents (OSDAs), that greatly expand the methodologies and compositions that can be used to synthesize these materials. The abilities of the OSDAs to produce RTH-type zeolites agree well with results from molecular modeling studies of predicted stabilization energies of the OSDAs in the RTH framework. The RTH-type zeolites are stable to steaming up to 900 °C and are shown to be active MTO catalysts.