Crystalline and amorphous aluminosilicates with different pore structures for the synthesis of pyridines

The heterogeneous catalytic synthesis of pyridine and methylpyridines (picolines) was carried out by the reaction of ethanol with formaldehyde and ammonia over aluminosilicates with different acidic properties and textural characteristics: zeolite framework-type FAU in H-form with microporous (H-Y) and micro-meso-macroporous structure (H-Y-mmm) and mesoporous aluminosilicates, obtained by sol-gel synthesis in an alkaline medium (ASM-1) and under variable pH (ASM-2). It is shown that the highest catalytic activity is characteristic of ASM-2 (Si/Al = 40) with a narrow pore size distribution within the range 2 to 5 nm and containing strongly acidic bridging Si–OH–Al groups on the surface. The products of the reaction of ethanol with formaldehyde and ammonia on the catalysts studied are dominated by picolines; the maximum amount of picolines (60%) is formed on the H-Y-mmm and aluminosilicate ASM-2 samples.