Gas and liquid phase catalytic beckmann rearrangement of oximes to produce lactams

A catalyst comprising:

• a silicon-containing aluminophosphate framework with the IZA framework code FAU;
• and
• a plurality of discrete Bronsted acid sites positioned in an interior of the framework, the acid sites comprising silicon isomorphousiy substituted for phosphorous in the framework;
• wherein the catalyst is a SAPO-37 type catalyst, and at least 10% of the total number of acid sites are characterized as weak acid sites.

A silicoalumiophosphate catalyst having a microporous crystalline framework structure having a composition on an anhydrous basis of:

• wherein;
• R is at least one organic templating agent;
• m is from 0.02 to 0.3;
• and
• x, y, and z, are selected within the values bounded by the points A, B, C, D, and E on a ternary diagram, where:
• x
• y
• z
• A
• 0.01
• 0.47
• 0.52
• B
• 0.94
• 0.01
• 0.05
• C
• 0.98
• 0.01
• 0.01
• C
• 0.39
• 0.60
• 0.01
• E
• 0.01
• 0.60
• 0.39
• the catalyst comprising a plurality of discrete Bronsted acid sites positioned in an interior of the framework, the acid sites comprising silicon isomorphously substituted for phosphorous in the framework;
• at least 10% of the total number of acid sites being characterized as weak acid sites.

A method of forming a SAPO-37 catalyst, comprising:

• adding an aluminum source to a phosphorous source to form an aluminum/phosphorous mixture;
• dissolving tetramethylammonium hydroxide pentahydrate in tetrapropyiammonium hydroxide to form a TMAOH/TPAOH solution;
• adding fumed silica to the TMAOH/TPAOH solution to form a structural template solution;
• adding the structural template solution to the aluminum/phosphorous mixture to form a gel having a ratio of silicon to phosphorous from about 0.1:1 to about 0.8:1;
• and
• heating the gel to form the catalyst.