Interaction of ethylene sulfide on montmorillonites

Full text: Lamellar inorganic solids, as clay minerals, have been widely studied because of its structural properties. These materials may be organically modified resulting in inorganic-organic hybrid materials with specific functions [1]. In this work inorganic-organic hybrids were synthesized using three samples of montmorillonite with different cation exchange capacity as supports for the immobilization of ethylene sulfide in the absence of solvent. These materials were characterized using X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetry and sulfur elemental analysis. The spectra of the all modified solids were very similar with bands at 2923 and 2855 cm^-1 related to the asymmetric and symmetric stretching of C-H in methylene groups, respectively, demonstrating the occurrence of the reaction. The (001) reflections observed at 5.94°, 6.84 and 7.08° correspond to basal distances of 1487, 1291 and 1248 pm for three montmorillonite samples. After reaction, the basal distances changed to 1302, 1376 and 1448 pm suggesting that ethylene sulfide was intercalated in the interlayer space of solids. The method described provides a simple route for the synthesis of inorganic-organic clay mineral. References: [1] R. A. SCHOONHEYDT. Functional hybrid clay mineral films, Applied Clay Science (2014). (author)