Intensities of C-H IR stretching bands of ethane and propane adsorbed by zeolites as a new spectral criterion of their chemical activation via polarization resulting from stretching of chemical bonds

Polarization of ethane and propane resulting from adsorption of these hydrocarbons by protons and different cations in mordenite, ZSM-5, and Y zeolites was studied by diffuse reflection Fourier transform IR spectroscopy (DRIFTS). Perturbation of adsorbed molecules by protons and sodium cations is weak, while positions of absorption bands for both these zeolites are very close to each other. In contrast, distributions of C-H IR stretching bands in intensities are somewhat different. This effect is pronounced much stronger for adsorption of light paraffins by bivalent alkaline earth and zinc cationic forms of these zeolites. Distribution of relative intensities of absorption bands strongly depends in this case both on the nature of cations and on the zeolites, while the most strongly perturbed vibrations are the initially fully symmetric C-H stretching vibrations. The corresponding low-frequency shifts and relative intensities of IR bands are increasing for different cations and zeolites in the following sequences: Na < Ca < Mg < Zn and Y < Mor approximately ZSM-5, while the difference in distribution of relative intensities of C-H stretching bands is pronounced much stronger than for the low-frequency shifts of these bands. Therefore, the relative intensities of IR C-H stretching bands are much better criterion of perturbation of light paraffins upon adsorption than the frequencies of these bands, which are traditionally used for this purpose. In addition, distribution of C-H IR stretching bands in intensity also provides unique information on anisotropy of polarizability of different C-H bonds created by their vibrations. For the acid and acid-base catalysis, where the main source of chemical activation arises from polarization of adsorbed molecules, such information is most important, while the anisotropy of polarizability provides a unique information on selective activation of different chemical bonds resulting from their stretching. The obtained results also demonstrate the possibility to use for testifying of the strength of Lewis acid sites instead of adsorption of the model molecular probes adsorption of the paraffins themselves.