Introducing zinc cations into zeolite Y via the reduction of HY with zinc metal vapour

Zeolites HY and NaY which were contacted with zinc metal vapour at 420°C were investigated by carbon monoxide and xenon adsorption as well as 129Xe NMR spectroscopy. The reaction of zeolite HY results in the incorporation of Zn2+ cations which are shown to populate the supercage positions S II and S III to an unusually high extent. The supercage zinc cation concentration strongly decreases when the material is saturated with water and subsequently dehydrated at 400°C. The zeolite NaY turns out to be inert towards the reaction with zinc metal vapour.