Structure of the borosilicate zeolite catalyst SSZ-82 solved using 2D-XPD charge flipping

The structure of the calcined borosilicate zeolite catalyst SSZ-82 ([Si(61.3)B(4.7)O(132)], Pmmn, a = 24.2783(4), b = 11.4665(2), and c = 14.1127(3) Å) has been solved from X-ray powder diffraction (XPD) data using the recently developed 2D-XPD charge flipping approach. The electron density maps generated with the more conventional powder charge flipping (pCF) algorithm could not be interpreted easily, so this new method, which begins by phasing low-resolution, 2D subsets of the data, was applied. Crystallographic phases were derived for the three main projections ([100], [010], and [001]) by using just the corresponding subsets of reflections (0kl, h0l, and hk0, respectively) from the full set of 3039 extracted intensities. These phases were then imposed on the (otherwise random) starting phases in the application of the pCF algorithm to the full data set. The framework structure, with 11 Si/B atoms in the asymmetric unit and a novel 12-/10-ring 2D channel system, could be seen clearly in the resulting electron density map. This is the first application of the 2D-XPD method to data collected on a material of unknown structure. Rietveld refinement of the structure revealed the positions of the B atoms in the framework and indicated that some water had been readsorbed in the pores.