Res. Chem. Intermed., Vol. 33, No. 6, pp. 501–512 (2007)  VSP 2007. Also available online - www.brill.nl/rci Microwave synthesis, characterization and catalytic properties of titanium-incorporated ZSM-5 zeolite TAIHUAN JIN 1 , YOUNG KYU HWANG 1 , DO-YOUNG HONG 1 , SUNG HWA JHUNG 1 , JIN-SOO HWANG 1 , SAN-EON PARK 2 , YOUNG HO KIM 3 and JONG-SAN CHANG 1,∗ 1 Catalysis Center for Molecular Engineering, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT), P.O. Box 107, Yuseong, Daejeon 305-600, South Korea 2 Department of Chemistry, Inha Univertisy, Incheon 402-751, South Korea 3 Department of Fine Chemicals Engineering & Chemistry, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 305-764, South Korea Received 23 August 2006; accepted 23 November 2006 Abstract—Titanium-incorporated ZSM-5 zeolites (Si/Al = 50–200 and Si/Ti = 70) were suc- cessfully synthesized in a one-step sol–gel process under microwave irradiation. The characteristics of Ti-ZSM-5 zeolites were investigated using X-ray power diffraction, UV/Vis-DRS, FT-IR spec- troscopy and solid-state 27 Al-NMR to monitor the physico-chemical properties. Simultaneously, the acidic properties were characterized by the NH 3 -TPD profile. The characterization results revealed that the Ti 4+ and Al 3+ ions were well incorporated into the framework of Ti-ZSM-5 zeolite. The prepared zeolite was moderately active but selective in the dehydration of methanol to dimethyl ether. Keywords: Ti-ZSM-5; microwave irradiation; zeolite synthesis; DME. INTRODUCTION Since the discovery of titanium silicalite-1 (TS-1) [1], microporous metallosilicates containing transition or main group metal ions such as Al 3+ , Ga 3+ , Fe 3+ ,B 3+ , Ti 4+ and Zr 4+ in their framework structures have opened up vast fields of research and potentially led to promising as oxidative and acid-catalyzed reactions [2 –8]. Hence, there has been tremendous interest in preparing precursors for synthesis purposes such as sol–gel, wetness impregnation and post-synthesis [4 –8]. Several papers have been proposed for the use of conventional synthetic methods for the substitution of Ga, Ti, Li, Al and B into the zeolite frameworks using metal ethoxide ∗ To whom correspondence should be addressed. Fax: (82-42) 860-7676; e-mail: jschang@krict.re.kr