Synthesis and crystal structure of a layered silicate HUS-1 with a halved sodalite-cage topology

A new layered silicate, HUS-1, was synthesized by hydrothermal synthesis using decomposed FAU- and *BEA-type zeolites as nanosized silica parts. Structural analyses by X-ray powder diffractometry and solid-state magic-angle-spinning (MAS) NMR spectroscopy revealed that HUS-1 has a layered structure containing a silicate layer per unit cell along a stacking direction. Its framework topology is similar to that of SOD-type zeolites and consists of a halved sodalite cage, which includes four- and six-membered Si rings. Structure refinement by the Rietveld method showed that tetramethylammonium (TMA) ions used as a structure-directing agent (SDA) were incorporated into the interlayer. The four methyl groups of the TMA molecule were located orderly in a hemispherical cage in the silicate layer, which suggests restraint of molecular motion. The interlayer distance is estimated at about 0.15 nm, which is unusually short in comparison with that in other layered silicates (e.g., β-HLS or RUB-15) with similar framework topologies. The presence of hydrogen bonding between adjacent terminal O atoms was clearly revealed by the (1)H MAS NMR spectroscopy and by electron-density distribution obtained by the maximum entropy method.