A 24T model containing a complete two-layered 12-membered ring connected by an 8-membered side pocket was used to represent the channel of the MOR framework. On the basis of this model, the structures of the acid sites in the main channels of Li- and Na-MOR as well as their interaction with pyridine probe molecule were investigated using the ONIOM2 (QM/QM; B3LYP/6-31G(d,p):HF/3-21G) and ONIOM2 (QM/MM; B3LYP/631G(d,p):UFF) methods. There are two stable structures for the Li-MOR cluster; one has Li+ interacting with two oxygen atoms around Al, and the other has Li+ interacting with four oxygen atoms belonging to a five-membered ring. This four-fold Li+ coordination is consistent with Na+ in Na-MOR, and is the same as the Na+ coordination in the intersection model of Na-ZSM-5. The ONIOM2 (QM/MM) method overestimates the adsorption energies of pyridine (195.0/192.8 and 170.6 kJ/mol for Li-MOR and Na-MOR, respectively), while the ONIOM2 (QM/QM) method gives reasonable results (171.6/154.7 and 131.3 kJ/mol, respectively) compared to the available experimental values (153-195 and 1200/mol, respectively). The structural parameters of the adsorption complexes showed that coordination of the alkali ion to the nitrogen atom of pyridine dominates the overall interaction between the zeolite and pyridine, and the adsorption complexes were further stabilized by hydrogen bonding between the hydrogen atoms of pyridine and the lattice oxygen atoms of the zeolite framework. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.