Zeolites are key materials in both basic research and industrial applications. However, their synthesis is neither diverse nor applicable to labile frameworks because classical procedures require harsh hydrothermal conditions, whereas post-synthesis methods are limited to a few suitable parent materials. Remaining frameworks can fail due to amorphization, dissolution, and other decomposition processes. Nevertheless, stopping degradation at intermediate structures could yield new zeolites. Here, by optimizing the design and synthesis parameters of the parent zeolite IWV, we "caught" a new, highly crystalline, and siliceous zeolite during its degradation. IWV seed-assisted crystallization followed by gentle transformation into the water-alcohol system yielded the highly crystalline daughter zeolite IPC-20, whose structure was solved by precession-assisted three-dimensional electron diffraction. Without additional requirements, as in conventional (direct or post-synthesis) strategies, our approach may be applied to any chemically labile material with a staged structure.

Department of Low Temperature Physics Faculty of Mathematics and Physics Charles University 5 Holešovičkách 2 Prague 8 180 00 Czech Republic

Department of Physical and Macromolecular Chemistry Faculty of Science Charles University Hlavova 8 Prague 2 128 43 Czech Republic

Institute of Physics Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic v v i Na Slovance 2 Prague 8 182 21 Czech Republic

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ADOR zeolite with 12 × 8 × 8-ring pores derived from IWR germanosilicate