Transformation of AlPO-53 to JDF-2 : Reversible dehydration of a templated aluminophosphate studied by MAS NMR and diffraction

Ashbrook, Sharon E. and Cutajar, Marica and Griffin, John M. and Lethbridge, Zoe A. D. and Walton, Richard I. and Wimperis, Stephen (2009) Transformation of AlPO-53 to JDF-2 : Reversible dehydration of a templated aluminophosphate studied by MAS NMR and diffraction. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 113 (24). pp. 10780-10789. ISSN 1932-7447

Abstract

We describe a detailed study of the aluminum phosphate AlPO-53 in both its as-made and calcined forms. In its as-made state, AlPO-53(A), the material is templated by methylammonium cations and contains occluded water molecules and also hydroxide ions that bridge pairs of aluminum atoms, increasing their coordination number to 5. Solid-state NMR experiments confirm the local environment of the aluminum and phosphorus atoms proposed in a previous structural model from powder X-ray diffraction. P-31 NMR shows the presence of four distinct resonances with an intensity ratio of 1: 1:2:2, consistent with the expected six crystallographic p Sites. Al-27 triple-quantum MAS NMR resolves five aluminum peaks, two with NMR parameters characteristic of four-coordinate Al and three of five-coordinate Al. One of these latter signals has a greater intensity than that of the others, consistent with the presence of two overlapping signals from two distinct crystallographic Al sites. First-principles calculations of NMR parameters provide a complete spectral assignment and confirm our interpretation of unresolved spectra. AlPO-53(A) is found to convert easily into a second crystalline phase on moderate heating (upon spinning in the NMR rotor for an extended period, for example), and variable-temperature powder X-ray experiments, together with TGA, suggest that this is a dehydration process yielding a second aluminophosphate, JDF-2. This is confirmed using both P-31 and Al-27 NMR, with the spectral assignment of JDF-2 supported by first-principles calculations. Calcination of AlPO-53(A) or of the dehydrated material, JDF-2, at 300 degrees C yields the microporous open-framework material AlPO-53(B), a tetrahedral network with three Al and three P sites, as confirmed by NMR and first-principles calculations. In addition to demonstrating the power of the combined use of NMR, first-principles calculations, and diffraction for detailed structural investigations, we show that the possibility of a reversible dehydration in as-made AlPO-53 and similar systems is an important consideration in structural studies and provides evidence that the published structural model for AlPO-53(A) may be incomplete.