This proposal on "Structural Analyses of Zeolites, Molecular Sieves and Related Materials" between Dr. Richard M. Kirchner of Manhattan College and Prof. Walter M. Meier of the Institute for Crystallography, Zurich, Switzerland, is jointly approved by NSF and the Swiss National Science Foundation under the U.S.-Switzerland Cooperative Science Program. Solving the structure of a new molecular sieve often takes many years using a combination of presently available techniques. A new approach (the Bennett/Schomaker method) has already been successful in solving the structures of four unknown molecular sieves. However, this method needs to be expanded to work in all space groups for a variety of framework materials of various chemical composition. This proposal would bring together experts who together could develop a more powerful and useful program. Specifically, the researchers of two new aluminophosphate framework materials (KAPPA and ALPO4-11) will be characterized from X-ray powder diffraction data. Knowledge of the KAPPA structure will enable a comparison of chemically substituted frameworks of similar topology to be made. A well characterized structure of ALPO4-11 would provide details of the interaction between the aluminophosphate framework and the organic template used to synthesize this material. In addition, since not many well characterized structures of aluminophosphate framework materials are known, each new structure is of considerable interest in order to understand the properties of this new family of materials (including chemically substituted ones) that have great potential for commercial application.
