Elevating carbonium ion chemistry in zeolite catalysis

In this issue of Chem Catalysis, Chen et al. explore—through the combination of ab initio molecular dynamics, 13C solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and in situ Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy—the catalytic relevance of “three-center-two-electron (3c-2e)” carbocations in the industrially relevant C4 isomerization process over zeolite ZSM-5.