Gas-Phase Carbonylation of Dimethyl Ether on the Stable Seed-Derived Ferrierite

The higher catalytic activity and stability for a gas-phase carbonylation of dimethyl ether (DME) to methyl acetate (MA) on the seed-derived ferrierite (FER) were attributed to its higher crystallinity with small amounts of defect sites by recrystallization methods without using any organic structure directing agent. The recrystallized FER (FER-S1) with its smaller amount of Lewis acidic extraframework Al sites (EFAl) possessed proper number of Brønsted acidic sites in the eight-membered-ring (8-MR) channels in comparison to the pristine FER, which was responsible for an enhanced CO insertion rate to methoxy intermediates formed by dissociated DME molecules by referentially forming acetyl intermediates or to the highly active Brønsted acidic sites. The most active tetrahedral T2 sites with two adjacent Al atoms in the 8-MR channels having next-nearest Al–O–Si–O–Al configurations on the F…