摘要:
The chiral cation (1S,2S)-2-hydroxymethyl-1-benzyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium (bmpm) and a 50% mixture of this with its diastereoisomer (1R,2S)-2-hydroxymethyl-1-benzyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium have been prepared and tested as structure directing agents (SDAs) in the synthesis of pure-silica zeolites in fluoride medium. The S,S isomer has been shown to efficiently direct the crystallization of zeolite ZSM-12 (MTW); in contrast, the use of a mixture of the two diastereoisomers as a SDA does not lead to the formation of the ZSM-12 structure under the same synthesis conditions, thus suggesting a lower efficiency of the R,S isomer to direct the crystallization of the structure. A computational study based on molecular mechanic simulations allowed explanation of the efficient structure directing role of the S,S isomer in terms of a high host-guest interaction due to a strong structural relationship between the MTW topology and the molecular geometry of the S,S isomer. However, the simulations revealed that the interaction developed by the R,S diasteroisomer with the MTW framework is smaller due to a worse fitting of its molecular structure with the zeolite topology, providing an explanation for the experimental observations.