Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 February 2011
Our recent studies on the acidity and acid catalysis of heteropoly compounds are described, together with a brief introduction of the background. High catalytic activities were observed due to the combination of their superacidity, pseudoliquid behavior, acid-base bifunctionality and/or high surface concentration of proton. It was also shown how the acid strength and the number of acid sites as well as their tertiary structure were controlled by the constituent elements (heteroand addenda-atoms and counter cations), and how those properties were correlated with the catalytic activities