US Patent 7202376 Method of producing polycarbosilane using zeolite as catalyst

The present invention is related to a method of producing polycarbosilane by heating polydimethylsilane at low pressure within the range of 320˜450° C. using zeolite having the Si/Al or Si/B ratio of 1˜200 as catalyst. This invention uses a zeolite with the structure of ZSM-5, ZSM-11, ZSM-12, zeolite X and zeolite Y, which has the Si/Al or Si/B ratio of 1˜200, as catalyst. When polycarbosilane is produced using a specific zeolite as catalyst, Si/Al or Si/B ratio can be adjusted at any proportion, enabling acidity control of catalyst, and therefore the molecular weight of final products can be easily controlled and the product yield can be improved, compared to conventional solid acid catalysts.