Abstract
The disordered intermediate of the ADORable zeolite UTL has been structurally confirmed using the pair distribution function (PDF) technique. The intermediate, IPC-1P, is a disordered layered compound formed by the hydrolysis of UTL in 0.1 M hydrochloric acid solution.
Its structure is unsolvable by traditional X-ray diffraction techniques. The PDF technique was first benchmarked against high-quality synchrotron Rietveld refinements of IPC-2 (OKO) and IPC-4 (PCR) - two end products of IPC-1P condensation that share very similar structural features.
An IPC-1P starting model derived from density functional theory was used for the PDF refinement, which yielded a final fit of R(w) = 18% and a geometrically reasonable structure. This confirms the layers do stay intact throughout the ADOR process and shows PDF is a viable technique for layered zeolite structure determination.