Michael M. Olken

Synthetic Inorganic Materials

Inorganic materials have played a key role in the historicalevolution of Dow, from a small-town start-up company in theearly 1900s, to a major chemical company by the 1940s, to a glo-bal corporation today. Dow’s roots are grounded on the firstuse of electrochemical technology in the USA to make bro-mine, chlorine, iodine, caustic, and bleach.

New Insights into the Mode of Formation of AIPO4-n Molecular Sieves

Here we report the synthesis of several aluminophosphates including the polymeric [AlP 2 O 8 H 2 ] − [Et 3 NH] + , the 20-membered ring JDF-20 framework, the porous macroanionic [Al 3 P 4 O 16 ] 3- AlPO 4- 5-like sheet structure, AlPO 4- 5, tinsleyite and AlPO 4 -cristobalite, all from a tetraethylene glycol - water solvent system and a 2:1 P:Al gel. The cocrystallization as well as the structural similarities between the [AlP 2 O 8 H 2 ] − [Et 3 NH] + chain and the JDF-20 phase together provide new insight into the mode of formation of aluminophosphate molecular sieves and allows one to postulate reaction pathways for the transformation between the two phases. The water content of the reaction mixture appears to play a crucial role in determining the nature of the final products. The hydrolysis of polymeric [AlP 2 O 8 H 2 ] − to various related chain structures followed by their ordered condensation, permits the formation of the “building blocks” of a wide range of AlPO 4 -n structures, such as VPI-5, AlPO 4- 5, AlPO 4- 11, tinsleyite and many others, as well as dense aluminophosphate phases, such as, AlPO 4 -cristobalite.

Nonaqueous Synthesis of Large Zeolite and Molecular Sieve Crystals

Here we present a novel method for the growth of uniformly large and morphologically well defined single crystals of all-silica, aluminosilicate and aluminophosphate molecular sieves with dimensions in the size range of 0.4-5mm. The synthesis mixtures were comprised of pyridine or other organic solvents, a hydrogen fluoride containing mineralizer, reagent amounts of water, an optional nitrogen-containing organic additive and sources of framework-building species. The identity, morphologies and crystal sizes of the synthesis products were found to depend critically on the basicity, hydrogen-bonding ability and viscosity of the organic solvent as well as on the reagent composition of the reaction mixture, especially on the amount of water. Using this method, molecular sieves of MFI, FER and MTN structure types along with the porous macroanionic Al3P4O163-AlPO4-5 like sheet structure have been obtained in our laboratory.

Synthesis and characterization of AlPO-41 in a mixed solvent system

Abstract The microporous crystalline aluminophosphate designated AlPO-41 has been synthesized as a pure phase in a mixed wateralcohol system. This synthesis of AlPO-41 avoids the previously reported need for seed crystals to obtain a pure AlPO-41 phase. AlPO-41 is also shown to undergo a reversible phase change on exposure to water similar to that seen for AlPO-11.