Well-crystallized samples of the phyllosilicate magadiite have been synthesized in their sodic form,both purely silicic and with an Al/Si ratio of 30. They have been delaminated by a procedure consistingof CTMA
+ swelling in the presence of TPAOH, sonication, and calcination at 700
C to remove theorganics and characterized by XRD,
27Al, and
29Si NMR, IR, TEM, and SEM, and N
2 physisorption afterthe successive steps of this procedure. The final delaminated solids, consisting of crumpled
sheets, exhibita high (500-510 m
2/g), mostly external surface area. While
29Si NMR indicated some loss of structuralorder, IR suggested the preservation of a typical feature of the magadiite
sheets, namely, five-membered(TO
4) rings. The acidity of the delaminated Al-containing material was evaluated by low-temperatureCO adsorption. This technique revealed strong Brönsted acidic centers, whose behavior was similar tothat of Si-OH-Al bridging hydroxyls in pentasil zeolites. Finally, the catalytic activity was evaluatedfor the test reaction of cumene cracking and shown to be much higher than that of a reference silicaalumina. These results make delaminated magadiite an attractive candidate for use as a novel acid catalystor catalytic support.