The structure and hydration status of attapulgite clay after heating at elevated temperatures and the stability of parathion on these clays was studied. Using infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy it was found that the bound water was lost in two steps, at 250° and 450° with the first step being largely reversible. At 650°C the structure began to dissolve releasing significant amounts of Mg, and a decrease in aggregate porosity was noted. At 850°C an amorphous phase was formed bearing little resemblance to the original attapulgite. Parathion was stable on all of the preheated clays when kept at 25°C for 190 days. The reactions of parathion on the preheated clays was studied at 110°C Hydrolysis of parathion was found to be minimal. Isomerization was the main reaction occurring on the Ca-attapulgite, whereas on an organo-clay no isomerization was observed. A mechanism for the isomerization reaction is proposed which entails a distortion of the phosphate moiety of the pesticide by the oxygen of the ligand water resulting in the conformational changes necessary for the isomerization to take place. On the organo-clay such a conformation was not possible; hence no isomerization occurred.

Clays may catalyze chemical reactions by acting as Brönsted acids, Lewis acids, and/or Lewis bases. The changes occurring when limonene (p-menthadiene) is heated in the presence of montmorillonite illustrate how Brönsted and Lewis acidity may operate competitively, the nature of the interlayer cations determining which reaction dominates. The rate at which the starting material disappears increases with the acidity of the clay, which depends upon the interlayer cations (Na < Mg < Al < H). The concentration of disproportionation and isomerization products reaches a maximum after reaction times which decrease with increasing surface acidity of the clay, p-cymene is produced by oxidation in concentrations inversely related to the surface acidity of the clay. The course of the chemical reaction can thus be steered in the preferred direction by an appropriate choice of interlayer cations.