Self-assembly of ionic liquids and metal complexes in super-cages of NaY. Integration of free catalysts and solvent molecules into confined catalytic sites

The integration of a free metal complex, Pd(phen)²⁺, and a room temperature ionic liquid (IL) solvent molecule, 1-decyl-3-methyl imidazolium bromide, into a complete catalytically active site and confined in a NaY zeolite super-cage with an appropriate spatial arrangement was investigated. This integration was achieved through a molecular self-assembly method. A preliminary test of this catalyst system for the carbonylation of aniline to methyl phenyl carbamate indicated that far higher catalytic activity could be achieved (TOF increased from 3000 to 23000 h^-1) with far lower amounts of the IL solvent and the Pd complex in comparison with a simple mixture of Pd(phen)Cl₂/IL/NaY as the catalyst. This new system can also be applied to other areas of catalysis.