Clay Mineral Catalysis of Organic Reactions

Book excerpt: The book provides insight into the working of clays and clay minerals in speeding up a variety of organic reactions. Clay minerals are known to have a large propensity for taking up organic molecules and can catalyse numerous organic reactions due to fine particle size, extensive surface area, layer structure, and peculiar charge characteristics. They can be used as heterogeneous catalysts and catalyst carriers of organic reactions because they are non-corrosive, easy to separate from the reaction mixture, and reusable. Clays and clay minerals have an advantage over other solid acids as they are abundant, inexpensive, and non-polluting.