THE STRUCTURE OF ZEOLITE AND ALUMINOPHOSPHATE MOLECULAR-SIEVES

Zeolites and other molecular sieves are microporous crystalline solids whose main uses are in catalysis, ion-exchange reactions and as adsorbents. Their crystalline structures and different ways of identification of molecular sieve structure are reviewed, together with a short introduction into the catalytic activity of these materials. Synthesis and structural overview of aluminophosphates, a new and fast-growing family of microporous materials, are presented and strategy for introducing different metal atoms into aluminophosphate framework is discussed. These chemical framework modifications lead to a broad range of structure types and offer a nearly unlimited number of design parameters for the tailoring of catalityc and adsorptive properties of aluminophosphate materials. Our results in the areas of synthesis and X-ray diffraction structural characterization of metal-substituted aluminophosphates are reviewed.