Heterogeneous Interactions of Methylamines on Porous Adsorbents. Part I. The Adsorption of Monomethylamine on Silica Gels and Silica–Alumina

Abstract

The adsorption of monomethylamine has been studied near its boiling point, 266 °K, on silica–alumina and on a wide range of silica gels by measurement of adsorption–desorption isotherms and isothermal calorimetric heats of adsorption. In addition, surface areas and pore-size distributions have been determined by low-temperature nitrogen adsorption. Heats of adsorption on Davison "923" silica gel varied from around 33.0 kcal/mol at θ = 0.01 to 6.2 kcal/mol at monolayer completion. Maxima were observed in this heat curve in the regions of θ = 0.15, 0.28, and 0.40. These phenomena are believed to be related to interactions among the adsorbed species in pores of diameters approaching molecular dimensions. Heats of adsorption on silica–alumina fell smoothly from 39.5 kcal/mol at θ = 0.03 to 13.0 kcal/mol at θ = 1.00. Adsorption–desorption characteristics of methylamine were also examined on a series of silica gels with widely different pore structures. The variations in the heats of adsorption with surface coverage are discussed in terms of both the nature of the adsorbed surface species and lateral interactions among the adsorbed molecules.