Catalytic Rearrangement of Tetrahydrodicyclopentadiene to Adamantane Over Y-Zeolite

Abstract

Bifunctional rare-earth exchanged Y zeolite, has the high catalytic activity for the synthesis of adamantane from tetrahydrodicyclopentadiene in the presence of hydrogen and hydrogen chloride, in a fixed bed flow system. The catalyst deactivated by pore plugging with deposited hydrocarbons can be almost completely regenerated by hydrocracking.

Endo- to exo-isomerization of tetrahydrodicyclopentadiene catalyzed by commercially available zeolites

“…In adamantane production catalyzed by Y zeolites, hydrogenolysis and various kinds of ring opening reations also take place simultaneously in the presence of hydrogen [10][11][12]. In our experiment, without hydrogen few hydrogenolysis and various kinds of ring opening reations occurred.…”

“…Considering reaction data, higher Si/Al ratio contributes little to the formation of exo-THDCPD, while favor the formation of adamantane and other byproducts. In the adamantane literature [10][11][12], it was suggested that strong Bronsted acid sites help the formation of adamantane and side reactions. From this point, H-USY with more moderate acidity is favorable choice for exo-THDCPD production.…”

“…The utilization of zeolites for the synthesis of adamantane (ADM) improved the technology of this isomer of tetrahydrodicyclopentadiene. In many literatures [10][11][12], the isomerization of endo-THDCPD catalyzed by Y zeolites was reported. Nowadays, Y zeolites had replaced aluminum chloride to catalyze endo-THDCPD to adamantine on industrial scale [13].…”

“Ab initio” synthesis of zeolites for preestablished catalytic reactions

“…To avoid the environmental problems associated to the use of aluminum chloride as catalyst, the application of environmentally solid acid as isomerization catalysts would be highly desired. Few reports can be found in the literature studying the use of zeolites for the adamantane synthesis, being zeolite Y the preferred catalyst (36)(37)(38).…”

AlCl3 Supported Catalysts for the Isomerization of <i>Endo</i>-Tetrahydrodicyclopentadiene

“…rearrangement of endo-TCD [8,9]. However, the low activity of zeolites limits its industrial application.…”