Academician YU Jihong and Professor CHEN Feijian from the College of Chemistry at Jilin University (JLU), in collaboration with other research institutions, recently published their findings in the journal Nature.

Titled Interchain-expanded extra-large-pore zeolites, the research reports the successful synthesis of ZEO-5, three-dimensional zeolites with extra-large pores delimited by 20, 16, and 16.

This achievement sets a new record for the largest pore size in a three-dimensional stable extra-large-pore zeolite, marking a significant breakthrough in this field.

The research article’s first authors are Postdoc GAO Zihao and PhD Student YU Huajian from the IMDEA Materials Institute, along with Professor CHEN from JLU.

The corresponding authors are Professor Miguel A. Camblor from the IMDEA Materials Institute, Professor YU Jihong from JLU, Professor WU Peng from East China Normal University, and Researcher LI Jian from Nanjing University.

This research is the team’s third major publication in three years on the topic of three-dimensional stable extra-large-pore zeolites, following their report of the first such zeolite, ZEO-1, in December 2021 (Science, 2021, 374, 1605-1608).

The successful synthesis of ZEO-5 challenges the traditional theory of zeolite crystallization, demonstrating that new reaction mechanisms can enable the construction of three-dimensional stable extra-large-pore zeolites that were previously difficult to achieve through conventional hydrothermal synthesis.

Additionally, the team introduced titanium atoms into ZEO-5, resulting in Ti-ZEO-5 exhibiting superior catalytic activity in liquid-phase alkene oxidations involving bulky molecules. This makes Ti-ZEO-5 an auspicious catalytic material.