Introduction to molecular sieves: trends of evolution of the zeolite community

摘要

At which extent the traditional definition of zeolites is still valid? Are zeolite scientists still dealing with "crystalline aluminosilicates containing pores and cavities of molecular dimensions", or did they create new materials original enough to render this time-honoured definition obsolete? Indeed, the zeolite community has pushed afar the borders of his field of interest, as any healthy body of scientists has to do. Zeolite researchers presently deal with nanopores instead of micropores, self-assembly instead of synthesis, and they prepare periodical structures from any corner of the periodical table, well beyond the limits of the class of ordered silicates. The evolution of the subject (and of the vocabulary used to describe it) has been astounding and somewhat refreshing but the core of the activity of the zeolite scientist is still the same as it was when Barter described the first documented synthetic zeolite in 1948: to apply up-to-date characterisation techniques to the design, synthesis and application of periodical self-assembled objects.