Abstract
We show that CO can be protonated by Brønsted acid sites to form the super-electrophilic HCO+ cation in H-zeolites such as mordenite. This reactivity stems from the confining environment of small 8-ring side pockets of H-MOR. HCO+ is a catalytically active super-electrophile: it carbonylates dimethyl ether and hydrocarbons to methyl acetate and aldehydes.