The Periodic Table, Zeolites and Single-Site Heterogeneous Catalysts

This brief account of the way in which the Periodic Table has guided the design of new and the improvement of existing heterogeneous catalysts should be regarded as a companion to that composed by Gomez-Hortiguela and Perez-Pariente (Synthesis and properties of zeolitic materials guided by periodic considerations, this volume). It has been structured in such a manner as to serve as an introduction to reference (Gomez-Hortiguela and Perez-Pariente, Synthesis and properties of zeolitic materials guided by periodic considerations, this volume). A recapitulation is given of the salient features of zeolites, and of the qualitative way, initially, the catalytic community set about exploiting trends in the Periodic Table to design new heterogeneous catalysts and to expand the performance of existing ones. Later sections deal with the unique opportunities presented by zeotypes, in conjunction with the Periodic Table, of fashioning new, high-performance and selective catalysts of a variety of kinds. Of those, single-site heterogeneous catalysts (SSHCs) exhibit a number of important advantages, which are illustrated by specific examples.