Jointly published by React.Kinet.Catal.Lett. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest Vol. 82, No. 2, 255-261 and Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht (2004) 0133-1736/2004/US$ 20.00. © Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest. All rights reserved. RKCL4417 AMPHIPHILIC NaY ZEOLITE PARTICLES LOADED WITH NIOBIC ACID: MATERIALS WITH APPLICATIONS FOR CATALYSIS IN IMMISCIBLE LIQUID-LIQUID SYSTEM Hadi Nur a* , Shigeru Ikeda b and Bunsho Ohtani b a Ibnu Sina Institute for Fundamental Science Studies, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Skudai, Johor, Malaysia b Catalysis Research Center, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0811, Japan Received September 24, 2003 In revised form December 18, 2003 Accepted January 23, 2004 Abstract The catalytic potential of catalysts for acid-catalyzed reactions has been demonstrated by NaY zeolite loaded with alkylsilane-covered niobic acid in the liquid phase hydration of 1,2-epoxyoctane with water. The catalytic activity of the catalysts was correlated to the amphiphilic character of the solid catalyst particles. Keywords: Amphiphilic zeolite particles, acid-catalyzed reactions INTRODUCTION The fast-growing insight into green chemistry has led to research more focused on the area of environmentally benign catalysts [1, 2]. Along this line, we recently reported a new approach to modify the surface of zeolite, resulting hydrophilic and hydrophobic regions, for application as catalyst in immiscible liquid-liquid systems in co-solvent free condition [3-6]. The organic transformations under solvent-free conditions are attracting increasing attention because the use of large quantities of organic solvents is not only _________________________ *Corresponding author. E-mail: hadi@kimia.fs.utm.my