Process for producing clay derivatives having a porous structure and novel clay derivatives obtained by the process

Abstract

A novel process for producing clay derivatives having porous structure comprises hydrolyzing a metal alkoxide such as Al(OR).sub.3, Ti(OR).sub.4 and Si(OR).sub.4 in which each R represents a linear or branched hydrocarbon group having from 1 to 6 carbon atoms, deflocculating the resulting hydrolyzate with an acid to obtain a hydrous metal oxide sol, and reacting the sol with smectite. The thus obtained porous clay derivatives have larger interlaminar interstices and a larger surface area than conventional ones. The interstices can be arbitrarily controlled by the acid amount. In addition, the derivatives are thermally stable so that they can be widely utilized in various fields as pigments, encapsulating agents, adsorbents, catalysts, carriers for catalysts and the like.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.