Synthetic aluminosilicates:

These compounds represent a great family of inorganic ion exchangers and depending upon their structure they may be divided into the following three main groups:

• Amorphous
• Two dimensional layered aluminosilicates, and
• Aluminosilicates with rigid three dimensional structures (zeolites)

Among these groups, synthetic zeolites have attracted increasing attention because of their molecular and ion-sieving properties. They have been successfully employed in gas adsorption and catalysis.