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The breathing behaviour of 17O-enriched (Al,Ga)-MIL-53, a terephthalate-based metal-organic framework, has been investigated using a combination of solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) and first-principles calculations. These reveal that the behaviour observed for as-made, calcined, hydrated and subsequently dehydrated mixed-metal MIL-53 materials differs with composition, but cannot be described as the compositionally weighted average of the breathing behaviour seen for the two end members. Although the form of MIL-53 adopted by the as-made material is independent of metal composition, upon calcination, materials with higher levels of Al adopt an open pore (OP) form, as found for the Al end member, but substitution of Ga results in mixed pore materials, with OP and narrow pore (NP) forms co-existing. Although the Ga end member is prone to decomposition under the calcination conditions used, a low level of Al in the starting synthesis (5%) leads to an OP mixed-metal MOF that is stable to calcination. Upon hydration, all materials almost exclusively adopt a closed pore (CP) structure, with strong hydrogen bonding interactions with water leading to two distinct resonances from the carboxylate oxygens in 17O NMR spectra. When dehydrated, different framework structures are found for the two end members, OP for Al-MIL-53 and NP for Ga-MIL-53, with the proportion of NP MOF seen to increase systematically with the Ga content in mixed-metal materials, in contrast to the forms seen upon initial calcination. 17O NMR spectra of mixed-metal MIL-53 materials show an increased preference for clustering of like cations as the Ga content increases. This is not a result of the small-scale dry gel conversion reactions used for enrichment, as a similar cation distribution and clustering is also observed for (Al0.5,Ga0.5)-MIL-53 synthesised hydrothermally and enriched with 17O via post-synthetic steaming.

Magic-angle spinning (MAS) NMR spin-echo dephasing is systematically investigated for the spin\ud I = 3/2 11B nucleus in lithium diborate, Li2O.2B2O3. A clear dependence on the quadrupolar\ud frequency (ωQPAS/2π = 3CQ/[4I (2I – 1)]) is observed: the B3 (larger CQ) site dephases more slowly\ud than the B4 site at all investigated MAS frequencies (5 to 20 kHz) at 14.1 T. Increasing the MAS\ud frequency leads to markedly slower dephasing for the B3 site, while there is a much less evident\ud effect for the B4 site. Considering samples at 5, 25, 80 (natural abundance) and 100 % 11B isotopic\ud abundance, dephasing becomes faster for both sites as the 11B isotopic abundance increases. The\ud experimental behaviour is rationalised using density matrix simulations for two and three dipolarcoupled\ud 11B nuclei. The experimentally observed slower dephasing for the larger CQ (B3) site is\ud reproduced in all simulations and is explained by the reintroduction of the dipolar coupling by the\ud so-called “spontaneous quadrupolar-driven recoupling mechanism” having a different dependence\ud on the MAS frequency for different quadrupolar frequencies. Specifically, isolated spin-pair\ud simulations show that the spontaneous quadrupolar-driven recoupling mechanism is most efficient\ud when the quadrupolar frequency is equal to twice the MAS frequency. While for isolated spin-pair\ud simulations, increasing the MAS frequency leads to faster dephasing, agreement with experiment is\ud observed for three-spin simulations which additionally include the homogeneous nature of the\ud homonuclear dipolar coupling network. First-principles calculations, using the GIPAW approach,\ud of the 2J11B-11B couplings in lithium diborate, metaborate and triborate are presented: a clear trend\ud is revealed whereby the 2J11B-11B couplings increase with increasing B-O-B bond angle and B-B\ud distance. However, the calculated 2J11B-11B couplings are small (0.95, 1.20 and 2.65 Hz in lithium\ud diborate), thus explaining why no zero crossing due to J modulation is observed experimentally,\ud even for the sample at 25 % 11B where significant spin-echo intensity remains out to durations of\ud ~200 ms.

The local structure and cation disorder in Y(2)Ti(2-x)Sn(x)O(7) pyrochlores, materials proposed for the encapsulation of lanthanide- and actinide-bearing radioactive waste, is studied using (119)Sn (I = 1/2) NMR spectroscopy. NMR provides an excellent probe of disorder, as it is sensitive to the atomic scale environment without the need for any long-range periodicity. However, the complex and overlapping spectral resonances that often result can be difficult to interpret. Here, we demonstrate how (119)Sn DFT calculations can be used to aid the spectral interpretation and assignment, confirming that Sn occupies only the six-coordinate pyrochlore B site, and that the Sn chemical shift is sensitive to the number of Sn/Ti on the neighbouring B sites. Although distinct resonances are resolved experimentally when the Ti content is low, there is significant spectral overlap for Ti-rich compositions. We establish that this is a result of two competing contributions to the Sn chemical shift; an upfield shift resulting from the incorporation of the more polarizing Ti(4+) cation onto the neighbouring B sites, and a concomitant downfield shift arising from the decrease in unit cell size. Despite the considerably easier spectral acquisition, the lower resolution in the (119)Sn spectra hinders the extraction of the detailed structural information previously obtained using (89)Y NMR. However, the spectra we obtain are consistent with a random distribution of Sn/Ti on the pyrochlore B sites. Finally, we consider whether an equilibrium structure has been achieved by investigating materials that have been annealed for different durations.

The nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) shielding and electric field gradient (EFG) tensors of three polymorphs of Mg(2)SiO(4), forsterite (alpha-Mg(2)SiO(4)), wadsleyite (beta-Mg(2)SiO(4)) and ringwoodite (gamma-Mg(2)SiO(4)), have been calculated using a density functional theory (DFT) approach with a planewave basis set and pseudopotential approximation. These Mg(2)SiO(4) polymorphs are the principal components of the Earth down to depths of 660 km and have been proposed as the hosts of water in the Earth's upper mantle and transition zone. A comparison of our calculations with single-crystal spectroscopic data in the literature for the alpha-polymorph, forsterite, shows that both the magnitude and orientation of the shielding and EFG tensors for O and Si can be obtained with sufficient accuracy to distinguish subtle differences in atomic positions between published structures. We compare calculated (17)O MAS NMR quadrupolar powder lineshapes directly with experimental lineshapes and show that we are able to reproduce them within the precision with which the NMR parameters may be determined from multi-parameter fitting. The relatively small amounts of sample available for the beta- and gamma-polymorphs, arising from the high pressures required for synthesis, has hindered the extraction of NMR parameters in previous work. The application of DFT calculations to these high-pressure polymorphs confirms previous spectral assignments, and provides deeper insight into the empirical correlations and observations reported in the literature. These first-principles methods are highly promising for the determination of local bonding in more complex materials, such as the hydrated forms of Mg(2)SiO(4), by aiding analysis of their multinuclear NMR spectra.

International audience; The distorted perovskites NaTaO(3) and NaNbO(3) have been studied using (23)Na multiple-quantum (MQ) MAS NMR. NaTaO(3) was prepared by high temperature solid state synthesis and the NMR spectra are consistent with the expected room temperature structure of the material (space group Pbnm), with a single crystallographic sodium site. Two samples of NaNbO(3) were studied. The first, a commercially available sample which was annealed at 900 degrees C, showed two crystallographic sodium sites, as expected for the room temperature structure of the material (space group Pbcm). The second sample, prepared by a low temperature hydrothermal method, showed the presence of four sodium sites, two of which match the expected room temperature structure and the second pair, another polymorph of the material (space group P21ma). This is consistent with powder X-ray diffraction data which showed weak extra peaks which can be accounted for by the presence of this second polymorph. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations support our conclusions, and aid assignment of the NMR spectra. Finally, we discuss the measured NMR parameters in relation to other studies of sodium in high coordination sites in the solid state.