Scott M. Auerbach, Lucy M. Bull, Neil J. Henson, Horia I. Metiu, and Anthony K. Cheetham, ``Behavior of benzene in Na-X and Na-Y zeolites: A comparative study by 2H NMR and molecular mechanics,'' J. Phys. Chem. 100, 5923-5930 (1996).

Abstract

We have performed solid state 2H NMR spin-lattice relaxation measurements on perdeuterated benzene in the zeolites Na-X and Na-Y over the temperature range 155-350 K. The resulting NMR correlation times exhibit Arrhenius temperature dependence, with the following Arrhenius parameters: tau0(Y) = (9.6 +/- 0.4)x10-13 s, Ea(Y) = (23.5 +/- 0.9) kJ mol-1, tau0(X) = (8.8 +/- 2.3)x10-12 s, Ea(X) = (14.0 +/- 0.6) kJ mol-1. This significant enhancement of benzene mobility from Na-Y to Na-X is reproduced with atomistic molecular mechanics simulations, yielding Ea(Y) = 35 kJ mol-1 and Ea(X) = 15 kJ mol-1, in quite reasonable agreement with the NMR measurements. We propose a simple length scale model which accounts for both the mobility enhancement and its order of magnitude. We find that the enhancement from Na-Y to Na-X is due to attractive interactions from SII sites influencing adjacent SII sites, making mobility more energetically favorable in Na-X. Based on the relative magnitudes of our calculated hopping activation energies, we predict that while intracage and intercage benzene mobilities are comparable in Na-X, intracage mobility is much more rapid than intercage migration for benzene in Na-Y.

Prof SM Auerbach
28 August 2000