Determining the structure of a benzene7.2-silicalite-1 zeolite using a single-crystal X-ray method.

A simple method for preparing orthorhombic single crystals of benzene-silicalite-1 was developed. A silicalite-1 crystal was pressed with a weight of 2 g along the +c and -c crystallographic axes while the temperature was increased to 473 K. The temperature was then slowly reduced to 313 K, and these heating and cooling steps were repeated three times. After the orthorhombic single crystals adsorbed benzene, the crystal structure of the resulting benzene-silicalite-1 was determined. There were two kinds of benzene molecules in the asymmetric unit. One was located at the intersection of the straight channels and the sinusoidal channels with the benzene ring parallel to the ac plane. The other benzene was located in the middle of the straight channel.