ZSM-5 is composed of several pentasil units linked together by oxygen bridges to form pentasil chains. A pentasil unit consists of eight five-membered rings. In these rings, the vertices are Al or Si and an O is assumed to be bonded between the vertices.
Z 0588 (OTTO) ZSM-5 - used as a support material for catalysis. In one such example, copper is deposited on the zeolite and a stream of ethanol is passed through at temperatures of 240 to 320 °C as a vapour stream, which causes the ethanol to oxidize to acetaldehyde; two hydrogens are lost by the ethanol as hydrogen gas.