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The incorporation of metal heteroatoms into zeolites is an effective modification strategy for enhancing their catalytic performance. Herein, for the first time we report a generalized methodology for inserting metal heteroatoms (such as Sn, Fe, Zn, and Co) into the layered zeolite precursor RUB-36 via interlayer expansion by using the corresponding metal acetylacetate salt. Through this generalized methodology, Sn-JHP-1, Fe-JHP-1, Zn-JHP-1 and Co-JHP-1 zeolites could be successfully prepared by the reaction of RUB-36 and corresponding metal acetylacetate salt at 180 °C for 24 h in the presence of HCl solution. As a typical example, Sn-JHP-1 and calcined Sn-JHP-1 (Sn-JHP-2) zeolite is well characterized by the X-ray diffraction (XRD), diffuse reflectance ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis), inductively coupled plasma (ICP), N2 sorption, temperature-programmed-desorption of ammonia (NH3-TPD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) techniques, which confirm the expansion of adjacent interlayers and thus the incorporation of isolated Sn sites within the zeolite structure. Notably, the obtained Sn-JHP-2 zeolite sample shows enhanced catalytic performance in the conversion of glucose to levulinic acid (LA) reaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]