Layer spacing of montmorillonites modified with rigid rods

The dependence of the interlayer distance in modified montmorillonite clays on the length of rigid rod molecules used for clay organophilization is studied. Therefore, a series of fully aromatic compounds of different length functionalized with a terminal amine group has been synthesized and transformed into the corresponding ammonium salts. The interlayer distance is determined by X-ray diffraction, the quantity of the modifier incorporated in the clay is obtained by thermogravimetric analysis. It is shown that the distance between layers in the modified clay does not depend on the length of the modifier used. This fact leads to the conclusion that rigid rods must be oriented parallel to the clay layers. On the other hand, the molar percentage of modifier molecules incorporated in the clay structure depends on the length of the rigid rods in the sense that shorter molecules are considerably easier to incorporate than longer ones.