Abstract: The invention is a process for manufacturing a material, a mass of finely divided particles of which an applied magnetic field can induce to change from a non-magnetized condition, in a sense of exhibiting no net external field, to a magnetized condition, in a sense of exhibiting an external field, which comprises:A. reacting starting materials comprising a salt of an alkali metal, e.g., lithium, sodium or potassium, a salt of a first metal in a divalent state, a salt of iron in a trivalent state, at least one of said salts being a halide, and an epoxy compound in the presence of a solvent selected from the group consisting of lower alkanols and water to obtain a mixture comprising a metal hydroxide-containing and solvent-containing gel;B. drying said gel to remove the majority of the solvent therefrom without significantly altering the distribution of lithium, sodium, or potassium therein to obtain porous particles; andC. heating the porous particles to produce the desired material.

Abstract: A catalytic composite suitable for hydrocarbon conversion processes, comprising hydrogen fluoride-antimony pentafluoride supported on fluorided alumina, having a fluorine content of at least 55 weight percent. Preferably the fluorided alumina support contains at least 60 weight percent fluorine and has a surface area less than 10 m.sup.2 /gram. The catalyst is particularly useful for isomerization and alkylation processes.