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A particularly difficult challenge in the chemistry of nanomaterials is the detailed structural and chemical analysis of multicomponent nano-objects. This is especially true for the determination of spatially resolved information. In this study, we demonstrate that dynamic nuclear polarization surface-enhanced solid-state NMR spectroscopy (DNP-SENS), which provides selective and enhanced NMR signal collection from the (near) surface regions of a sample, can be used to resolve the core–shell structure of a nanoparticle. Li-ion anode materials, monodisperse 10–20 nm large tin nanoparticles covered with a ∼3 nm thick layer of native oxides, were used in this case study. DNP-SENS selectively enhanced the weak 119Sn NMR signal of the amorphous surface SnO2 layer. Mössbauer and X-ray absorption spectroscopies identified a subsurface SnO phase and quantified the atomic fractions of both oxides. Finally, temperature-dependent X-ray diffraction measurements were used to probe the metallic β-Sn core and indicated that even after 8 months of storage at 255 K there are no signs of conversion of the metallic β-Sn core into a brittle semiconducting α-phase, a phase transition which normally occurs in bulk tin at 286 K (13 °C). Taken together, these results indicate that Sn/SnOx nanoparticles have core/shell1/shell2 structure of Sn/SnO/SnO2 phases. The study suggests that DNP-SENS experiments can be carried on many types of uniform colloidal nanomaterials containing NMR-active nuclei, in the presence of either hydrophilic (ion-capped surfaces) or hydrophobic (capping ligands with long hydrocarbon chains) surface functionalities., ACS Nano, 8 (3), ISSN:1936-0851, ISSN:1936-086X

Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) enhanced solid-state NMR spectroscopy at 9.4 T is demonstrated for the detailed atomic-level characterization of commercial pharmaceutical formulations. To enable DNP experiments without major modifications of the formulations, the gently ground tablets are impregnated with solutions of biradical polarizing agents. The organic liquid used for impregnation (here 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane) is chosen so that the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) is minimally perturbed. DNP enhancements (ε) of between 40 and 90 at 105 K were obtained for the microparticulate API within four different commercial formulations of the over-the-counter antihistamine drug cetirizine dihydrochloride. The different formulations contain between 4.8 and 8.7 wt % API. DNP enables the rapid acquisition with natural isotopic abundances of one- and two-dimensional 13C and 15N solid-state NMR spectra of the formulations while preserving the microstructure of the API particles. Here this allowed immediate identification of the amorphous form of the API in the tablet. API–excipient interactions were observed in high-sensitivity 1H–15N correlation spectra, revealing direct contacts between povidone and the API. The API domain sizes within the formulations were determined by measuring the variation of ε as a function of the polarization time and numerically modeling nuclear spin diffusion. Here we measure an API particle radius of 0.3 μm with a single particle model, while modeling with a Weibull distribution of particle sizes suggests most particles possess radii of around 0.07 μm., Journal of the American Chemical Society, 136 (6), ISSN:0002-7863, ISSN:1520-5126

Reference EPFL-ARTICLE-204301doi:10.1021/ja404269aView record in Web of Science Record created on 2015-01-08, modified on 2017-05-12

International audience; Line narrowing has been traditionally achieved in solid-state 1H NMR spectroscopy by applying pulse sequences that combine multiple-pulse operations with magic-angle spinning (MAS), to effectively average out the dipole[BOND]dipole homonuclear Hamiltonian. The present study explores a new alternative that departs from the usual concept of directly acting on the strongly coupled spins with radiofrequency pulses; instead, we seek to achieve a net homonuclear dipolar decoupling in solids by exploring the reintroduction of MAS-averaged heteronuclear dipolar couplings between the 1H nuclei and directly bonded 13C or 15N nuclei. This recoupling[BOND]anti-recoupling (RaR) scheme thus relies on the recoupling of the dipolar interaction with heteronuclear spins, which, under fast MAS, will exceed the strength and will not commute with the homonuclear 1H[BOND]1H coupling one is intending to average out. Subsequent removal ("antiRecoupling") of these heteronuclear interactions can lead to narrowed 1H resonances, without ever pulsing on the aforementioned channel. The line-narrowing properties of RaR are illustrated with numerical simulations and with experiments on model organic solids.

International audience; Using a set of six H-1-detected triple-resonance NMR experiments, we establish a method for sequence-specific backbone resonance assignment of magic angle spinning (MAS) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra of 5-30 kDa proteins. The approach relies on perdeuteration, amide H-2/H-1 exchange, high magnetic fields, and high-spinning frequencies (omega(r)/2 pi >= 60 kHz) and yields high-quality NMR data, enabling the use of automated analysis. The method is validated with five examples of proteins in different condensed states, including two microcrystalline proteins, a sedimented virus capsid, and two membrane-embedded systems. In comparison to contemporary C-13/N-15-based methods, this approach facilitates and accelerates the MAS NMR assignment process, shortening the spectral acquisition times and enabling the use of unsupervised state-of-the-art computational data analysis protocols originally developed for solution NMR.

Reference EPFL-ARTICLE-204450doi:10.1006/jmre.2001.2435View record in Web of Science Record created on 2015-01-08, modified on 2017-12-03

We present a new solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance experiment that yields, under CRAMPS decoupling conditions, a significant reduction in proton line widths for powdered organic solids. This experiment which relies on a constant-time acquisition of the proton transverse magnetization, removes the contribution of nonrefocusable broadening from the proton line widths. Although this new technique suffers from relatively low sensitivity, we demonstrate in this paper its feasibility on two model samples, L-alanine and the dipeptide Ala-Asp. In both cases a factor of between 2 and 3 in line width reduction is obtained for most of the proton resonances.

A fast method for crystal structure determination using crystal structure prediction and solid-state (1)H NMR is presented. This technique does not need any prior knowledge except the chemical formula; resonance assignment is not necessary. Starting from an ensemble of predicted crystal structures for powdered thymol, comparison between experimental and calculated (1)H solid-state isotropic NMR chemical shifts is sufficient to determine which predicted structure corresponds to the powder under study. The same approach using proton-proton spin-diffusion data is successful and can be used for cross-validation.

International audience; The synthesis and full characterization of a well-defined silica-supported ≡Si-O-W(Me)5 species is reported. Under an inert atmosphere, it is a stable material at moderate temperature, whereas the homoleptic parent complex decomposes above -20 °C, demonstrating the stabilizing effect of immobilization of the molecular complex. Above 70 °C the grafted complex converts into the two methylidyne surface complexes [(≡SiO-)W(≡CH)Me2] and [(≡SiO-)2W(≡CH)Me]. All of these silica-supported complexes are active precursors for propane metathesis reactions.

International audience; Grafting (ArO)2W(═O)(═CHtBu) (ArO = 2,6-mesitylphenoxide) on partially dehydroxylated silica forms mostly [(≡SiO)W(═O)(═CHtBu)(OAr)] along with minor amounts of [(≡SiO)W(═O)(CH2tBu)(OAr)2] (20%), both fully characterized by elemental analysis and IR and NMR spectroscopies. The well-defined oxo alkylidene surface complex [(≡SiO)W(═O)(═CHtBu)OAr] is among the most active heterogeneous metathesis catalysts reported to date in the self-metathesis of cis-4-nonene and ethyl oleate, in sharp contrast to the classical heterogeneous catalysts based on WO3/SiO2.

Carbon-13 solid-state NMR is used to determine, via the temperature dependence of paramagnetic shifts, the spin ladder of magnetic levels and the related spin exchange parameters in [4Fe-4S](2+) clusters. This study has been carried out between 180 and 330 K in three model compounds of the active sites of 4Fe-4S proteins: [(C2D5)(4)N](2)[Fe4S4((SCD2C6D5)-C-13)(4)], [(C2H5)(4)N](2)[Fe4S4(SC(CH3)(3))(4)], and [(C2H5)(4)N](2)[Fe4Se4(SC-(CH3)(3))(4)] The temperature dependencies of both the isotropic and anisotropic parts of the C-13 paramagnetic shift tensors have been measured and analyzed. Antiferromagnetic exchange coupling constants among iron atoms of J approximate to 430, 380, and 370 cm(-1) have been deduced from fits of their temperature dependencies. Additional contributions of the double-exchange term B favoring electronic delocalization and of a DeltaJ term associated with the compression of the cubane geometry are also discussed. We also show that connections between these measurements and those of magnetic susceptibility are especially close in the case of the [Fe-4-4S](2+) odor state.

The assignment of the NMR spectra of natural abundance medium-sized solid-state organic molecules still represents a challenging problem. In this paper, we show that a complete assignment of all the carbon-13, nitrogen-15, and proton NMR lines of a natural abundance solid peptide can be performed by combining various one-bond and multiple-bond correlation techniques for rotating solids. The assignment of the MAS spectra is shown to be unambiguous and relatively straightforward.

An approach for enhancing the NMR sensitivity of the central transition of spin-3/2 nuclei is presented. Through selective excitation of the satellite transitions using a fast 180 degrees phase alternating pulse train during magic-angle spinning a selectively excited state is prepared where the populations of all eigenstates textbackslash m > with the same sign of m are equal, resulting in an enhanced central m = -1/2 --> 1/2 transition polarization. Numerical simulations predict enhancements up to a factor of 2 and values of 1.7 and 1.9 have been obtained experimentally for Na-23 in Na2C2O4 and Rb-87 in RbClO4, respectively. We observe no significant anisotropic lineshape distortion. The conditions for optimum enhancement are discussed. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.

Simulations of exact spin dynamics in systems of multiple nuclear spins are limited to relatively small numbers of spins by the large size of the Hamiltonian matrices for dipolar-coupled spin systems. We propose using the translational symmetry of periodic (crystalline) systems to block-diagonalize both the Hamiltonian and the density matrix and thus extend the range of exact calculation. Although this method has general application whenever the density matrix treatment is valid, the method is illustrated using simulations of spin diffusion in one-dimensional spin-1/2 lattices. Clear evidence of convergence towards the limit of an infinitely extended lattice is seen. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Reference EPFL-ARTICLE-204466doi:10.1016/S0079-6565(99)00019-9View record in Web of Science Record created on 2015-01-08, modified on 2017-12-03

We present a theoretical framework for the use of continuously phase modulated radio-frequency pulses for homonuclear decoupling in solid-state NMR. Within this framework, we have derived new families of decoupling sequences using numerical optimization. One of these sequences is tested experimentally on an ordinary organic solid, and its performance is compared with standard multiple-pulse sequences. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

We have discovered the ability of 129Xe NMR spectroscopy to discriminate between the xenon complexes of cryptophane-A 1 and its deuterated congeners 2−6 in solution. At 238 K, under slow exchange conditions, the upfield shift experienced by the xenon atom upon complexation by 1 (190 ppm) is increased (up to ∼0.6%) when the hosts are deuterated. By using mixtures of deuterated and nondeuterated hosts, such as 1 and 6, the dynamics of a xenon atom can thus be traced between three different sites (one free and two bound states). We have demonstrated that some of the dynamic features of the exchange between these sites can be extracted from 2D-EXSY experiments, using a suitable kinetic model. We conclude that the exchange of a xenon atom between different hosts occurs by travelling through the solution rather than upon collision of two hosts.

Well-defined and perfectly dispersed [( identical withSiO)Au(I)] surface species supported on silica have been obtained via surface organometallic chemistry and transformed upon mild reduction (H(2), 300 degrees C) into small (1.8 +/- 0.6 nm) Au particles supported on silica passivated with SiMe(3) functionalities. Improved performance in liquid-phase aerobic epoxidation has been achieved, and the intrinsic activity of gold in oxidation is revealed.

Using a refocused INADEQUATE NMR experiment we show that homonuclear carbon−carbon through-bond correlations can be obtained in disordered organic solids where the line widths greatly exceed the value of the scalar coupling. The feasibility of the experiment is demonstrated for inhomogeneous samples of 13C-labeled wood and cellulose. The two-dimensional correlation maps are used to assign unambiguously the carbon resonances of this natural polymer. We show that the efficiency of the refocused INADEQUATE experiment depends on the ratio / , where is the apparent relaxation time, deduced from the line width, and is the transverse dephasing time measured in a spin−echo experiment. For cellulose, we find that is larger than by more than 1 order of magnitude and that the experimental efficiency of the refocused INADEQUATE experiment is around 10%, in agreement with calculations. Even in ordinary crystalline organic solids, such as powdered amino acids, large differences are observed between and .

We present the experimental observation of periodic quasi-equilibria in solid-state NMR. We observe these states in ordinary cross-polarization magic-angle spinning experiments on powder samples of ferrocene and alanine, and we compare our results with numerical simulations. The spin dynamics are explained by considering the coupling to the lattice as a coherent broadening of the eigenlevels of the Hamiltonian. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

H-1 and C-13 nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) relaxation studies of thiophenol-capped CdS nanocrystals are presented. The transverse and longitudinal relaxation times were investigated as a function of nanocrystal radius, and the transverse relaxation time was also studied as a function of temperature. Both proton and carbon T-2 values were found to increase with nanocrystal radius, contrary to initial expectations. This effect is explained in terms of motion of the thiophenol with respect to the nanocrystalline surface. Theoretical expressions for relaxation due to anisotropic motion are developed based on both bridging and terminal bonding configurations of the thiophenol ligands, and the data are fit to these models. The data are found to be consistent with thiophenol ligands bound in a terminal fashion to a single Cd atom. The temperature dependence of the proton T-2 value is also suprising. T-2 is found to decrease with increasing temperature, and the size of this change scales with the nanocrystal radius. This is explained in terms of an extra component of relaxation due to thermally excited electrons.

We develop the connection between theoretical studies of so-called quasi-equilibrium states in solid-state NMR for isolated spin-systems with the experimental observability of such states. The observability of these states is expected to be dependent on the relative broadenings due to coherent effects (such as dipolar couplings with the lattice) and incoherent effects, i.e. relaxation. Hence, we expect to see evidence of quasi-equilibria in cross polarization experiments, where the relevant relaxation time constant is relatively long. For classic spectral spin-diffusion experiments, however, quasi equilibria are unlikely to be observed. We also generalise the discussion to rotating solids, which is appropriate to magic angle spinning experiments. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B,V. All rights reserved.

The theory describing nuclear cross-polarization from a spin-1 to spin-1/2 is generalized to sweeps of the radio-frequency field amplitude. This allows efficient cross-polarization over the entire width of the deuterium NMR spectrum of partially oriented systems, such as liquid crystals. Such experiments permit the assignment and measurement of the deuterium quadrupolar couplings, and hence the quantification of the order parameters which characterize the dynamics of such systems. The evolution of the spin system can be understood in terms of individual quasiadiabatic population exchanges, allowing the prediction of the effects of the various experimental parameters on the efficiency of cross-polarization. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.

The performance of deuterium-carbon correlation (DECOR) spectroscopy for the assignment and measurement of deuterium quadrupolar couplings in fully deuterated liquid crystalline phases is analyzed. The experiment relies on a broadband polarization transfer step from deuterium to carbons. The efficiency of this step is demonstrated experimentally together with a brief study of cross-polarization dynamics. We show that resolution can be improved by removing the substantial contributions from heteronuclear dipolar couplings in a refocused version of the experiment. Quantification of the quadrupolar couplings is illustrated by the application to the thermotropic liquid crystal 5CB. A complete assignment is obtained by using both short-range and long-range correlations, allowing the individual measurement of all the aromatic couplings that are overlapping in the one-dimensional deuterium spectrum. The heteronuclear C-D couplings are shown to be measurable by direct inspection of the 2D spectra. By way of demonstration, we show that the experiment allows the measurement of quadrupolar couplings as a function of temperature.

Solid-state MAS correlation spectra involving cross polarization will generally provide spectra which are asymmetric about the main diagonal. A quantitative treatment of this effect is provided and is demonstrated experimentally with examples of two-dimensional spin-diffusion spectra, The effect, which is due to the nonuniform nonequilibrium initial coherent state induced by cross polarization, is usually pronounced, and cannot be eliminated simply. It must be taken into account when quantifying solid-state CPMAS correlation spectra. (C) 1998 Academic Press.

The accuracy of determination of tensor parameters measured using solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance is investigated. In particular, the reliability of the determination of the anisotropy and the asymmetry parameter of the chemical shift is calculated using the Cramer-Rao lower bounds. Minimizing this measure of the error as a function of an experimental parameter (in this case the spinning speed of the sample) enables the optimization of any given experiment. Hence, an optimum number of sidebands is found for which the determination of the anisotropy is most reliable. Comparision to the static limit shows that the reliability of the determination of the anisotropy is always greater in spinning experiments than in static experiments. An analogous analysis for the asymmetry parameter shows it to be consistently more reliably determined from a static spectrum. The sensitivity of the fitting to the simulation algorithm is found to become pronounced with slower speeds and static spectra, and a discussion of such systematic errors is provided. The reliability of the determination of dipolar or first-order quadrupolar tensors is also calculated, and we find that this presents a surprisingly different situation to that of the chemical shift. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.

International audience; Direct evidence of the conformation of a Pd-N heterocyclic carbene (NHC) moiety imbedded in a hybrid material and of the Pd-NHC bond were obtained by dynamic nuclear polarization surface-enhanced NMR spectroscopy (DNP SENS) at natural abundance in short experimental times (hours). Overall, this silica-based hybrid material containing well-defined Pd-NHC sites in a uniform environment displays high activity and selectivity in the semihydrogenation of alkynes into Z-alkenes.

International audience; Many of the functions and applications of advanced materials result from their interfacial structures and properties. However, the difficulty in characterizing the surface structure of these materials at an atomic level can often slow their further development Solid-state NMR can probe surface structure and complement established surface science techniques, but its low sensitivity often limits its application. Many materials have low surface areas and/or low concentrations of active/surface sites. Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) is one Intriguing method to enhance the sensitivity of solid-state NMR experiments by several orders of magnitude. In a DNP experiment, the large polarization of unpaired electrons is transferred to surrounding nuclei, which provides a maximum theoretical DNP enhancement of similar to 658 for H-1 NMR. In this Account, we discuss the application of DPIP to enhance surface NMR signals, an approach known as DNP surface enhanced NMR spectroscopy (DNP SENS). Enabling DNP for these systems requires bringing an exogeneous radical solution into contact with surfaces without diluting the sample. We proposed the incipient wetness impregnation technique (IWI) a well-known method in materials science, to impregnate porous and particulate materials with just enough radical containing solution to fill the porous volume. IWI offers several advantages: it is extremely simple, provides a uniform wetting of the surface, and does not increase the sample volume or substantially reduce the concentration of the sample. This Account describes the basic principles behind DNP SENS through results obtained for mesoporous and nanoparticulate samples impregnated with radical solutions. We also discuss the quantification of the overall sensitivity enhancements obtained with DNP SENS and compare that with ordinary room temperature NMR spectroscopy. We then review the development of radicals and solvents that give the best possible enhancements today. With the best polarizing mixtures, DNP SENS enhances sensitivity by a factor of up to 100, which decreases acquisition time by five orders of magnitude. Such enhancement enables the detailed and expedient atomic level characterization of the surfaces of complex materials at natural isotopic abundance and opens new avenues for NMR. To illustrate these improvements, we describe the successful application of DNP SENS to characterize hybrid materials, organometallic surface species, and metal-organic frameworks.

Mesoporous hybrid silica–organic materials containing homogeneously distributed stable mono- or dinitroxide radicals covalently bound to the silica surface were developed as polarization matrixes for solid-state dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) NMR experiments. For TEMPO-containing materials impregnated with water or 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane, enhancement factors of up to 36 were obtained at ∼100 K and 9.4 T without the need for a glass-forming additive. We show that the homogeneous radical distribution and the subtle balance between the concentration of radical in the material and the fraction of radicals at a sufficient inter-radical distance to promote the cross-effect are the main determinants for the DNP enhancements we obtain. The material, as well as an analogue containing the poorly soluble biradical bTUrea, is used as a polarizing matrix for DNP NMR experiments of solutions containing alanine and pyruvic acid. The analyte is separated from the polarization matrix by simple filtration., Journal of the American Chemical Society, 135 (41), ISSN:0002-7863, ISSN:1520-5126

A series of seven functionalized nitroxide biradicals (the bTbK biradical and six derivatives) are investigated as exogenous polarization sources for dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) solid-state NMR at 9.4 T and with ca. 100 K sample temperatures. The impact of electron relaxation times on the DNP enhancement (ε) is examined, and we observe that longer inversion recovery and phase memory relaxation times provide larger ε. All radicals are tested in both bulk 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane solutions and in mesoporous materials, and the difference in ε between the two cases is discussed. The impact of the sample temperature and magic angle spinning frequency on ε is investigated for several radicals each characterized by a range of electron relaxation times. In particular, TEKPol, a bulky derivative of bTbK with a molecular weight of 905 g·mol–1, is presented. Its high-saturation factor makes it a very efficient polarizing agent for DNP, yielding unprecedented proton enhancements of over 200 in both bulk and materials samples at 9.4 T and 100 K. TEKPol also yields encouraging enhancements of 33 at 180 K and 12 at 200 K, suggesting that with the continued improvement of radicals large ε may be obtained at higher temperatures., Journal of the American Chemical Society, 135 (34), ISSN:0002-7863, ISSN:1520-5126

International audience; We present here H-1-detected triple-resonance H/N/C experiments that incorporate CO-CA and CA-CB out-and-back scalar-transfer blocks optimized for robust resonance assignment in biosolids under ultra-fast magic-angle spinning (MAS). The first experiment, (H)(CO)CA(CO)NH, yields H-1-detected inter-residue correlations, in which we record the chemical shifts of the CA spins in the first indirect dimension while during the scalar-transfer delays the coherences are present only on the longer-lived CO spins. The second experiment, (H)(CA)CB(CA)NH, correlates the side-chain CB chemical shifts with the NH of the same residue. These high sensitivity experiments are demonstrated on both fully-protonated and 100 %-H-N back-protonated perdeuterated microcrystalline samples of Acinetobacter phage 205 (AP205) capsids at 60 kHz MAS

International audience; A protocol for the ab initio crystal structure determination of powdered solids at natural isotopic abundance by combining solid-state NMR spectroscopy, crystal structure prediction, and DFT chemical shift calculations was evaluated to determine the crystal structures of four small drug molecules: cocaine, flutamide, flufenamic acid, and theophylline. For cocaine, flutamide and flufenamic acid, we find that the assigned H-1 isotropic chemical shifts provide sufficient discrimination to determine the correct structures from a set of predicted structures using the root-mean-square deviation (rmsd) between experimentally determined and calculated chemical shifts. In most cases unassigned shifts could not be used to determine the structures. This method requires no prior knowledge of the crystal structure, and was used to determine the correct crystal structure to within an atomic rmsd of less than 0.12 angstrom with respect to the known reference structure. For theophylline, the NMR spectra are too simple to allow for unambiguous structure selection

The nuclear magnetic resonance of paramagnetic solids is usually characterized by the presence of large chemical shifts and shift anisotropies due to hyperfine interactions. Frequently the resulting spectra cover a frequency range of several megahertz, which is greater than the bandwidth of commercially available radio-frequency (RF) probes, making it impossible to acquire the whole spectrum in a single experiment. In these cases it common to record a series of spectra, in which the probe is tuned to a different frequency for each, and then sum the results to give the ``true'' spectrum. While this method is very widely used on static samples, the application of frequency stepping under magic-angle spinning (MAS) is less common, owing to the increased complexity of the spin dynamics when describing the interplay of the RF irradiation with the mechanical rotation of the shift tensor. In this paper, we present a theoretical description, based on the jolting frame formalism of Caravatti et al. [J. Magn. Reson. 55, 88 (1983)], for describing the spin dynamics of a powder sample under MAS when subjected to a selective pulse of low RF-field amplitude. The formalism is used to describe the frequency stepping method under MAS, and under what circumstances the true spectrum is reproduced. We also present an experimental validation of the methodology under ultra-fast MAS with the paramagnetic materials LiMnPO4 and TbCsDPA. (C) 2013 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4795001]

International audience; Secondary interactions are demonstrated to direct the stability of well-defined Ru-NHC-based heterogeneous alkene metathesis catalysts. By providing key stabilization of the active sites, higher catalytic performance is achieved. Specifically, they can be described as interactions between the metal center (active site) and the surface functionality of the support, and they have been detected by surface-enhanced H-1-Si-29 NMR spectroscopy of the ligand and P-31 solid-state NMR of the catalyst precursor. They are present only when the metal center is attached to the surface via a flexible linker (a propyl group), which allows the active site to either react with the substrate or relax, reversibly, to the surface, thus providing stability. In contrast, the use of a rigid linker (here mesitylphenyl) leads to a well-defined active site far away from the surface, stabilized only by a phosphine ligand which under reaction conditions leaves probably irreversibly, leading to faster decomposition and deactivation of the catalysts.

Reference EPFL-ARTICLE-204293doi:10.1021/ar4001718View record in Web of Science Record created on 2015-01-08, modified on 2016-08-09

In a spin: The use of deuterated surface passivation agents is shown to restore dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) surface-enhanced NMR signals that are reduced in substrates containing methyl groups, while still protecting sensitive sites on the surface (see picture). Furthermore, apolar groups such as [D9]-trimethylsiloxy (TMS) repel radicals (yellow) away from the surface, thus diminishing detrimental paramagnetic effects induced by radical proximity. Copyright © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

International audience; We present the molecular level characterization of a phenylpyridine-based periodicmesoporous organosilicate and its post-functionalized organometallic derivatives through the fast acquisition of high quality natural isotopic abundance 1D C-13, N-15, and Si-29 and 2D 1H-C-13 and 1H-Si-29 solid-state NMR spectra enhanced with dynamic nuclear polarization.

Experimental and theoretical aspects of carbon-13 line shapes in static solids are described for on-resonance spin decoupling conditions. A relatively simple theoretical approach is provided for describing line shapes in static solids based on an operator representation of static second-order perturbation theory and theoretical line shapes in I2S and InS systems are calculated. The line shapes are predicted to comprise a single center line and `'decoupling sidebands'' on each side of the center line which move outward and diminish in amplitude as the decoupling field is increased. The predicted behavior is confirmed by experiments on an isolated seven spin system, where the decoupling sidebands are observed directly, and some organic solids in which the decoupling sidebands are not observed directly but in which their presence can be deduced from the behavior of the center line. A comparison is made between the theoretical predictions based on a complete quantum mechanical treatment and the predictions made using classical approximations in the model for the line shape. We conclude, based on our experimental results, that the line shape has a character which reflects the quantum nature of the spin system, even it? organic solids, and that on-resonance terms appear to dominate experimental line shapes. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.

The performance of several different two-dimensional NMR methods for the measurement of carbon-proton dipolar couplings in liquid crystalline phases is analyzed. Proton-detected local field spectroscopy allows the measurements of short range C-H couplings, which correspond to directly bond pairs, by direct inspection of the spectra. Off magic angle (OMAS) spinning techniques can be applied to anisotropic phases that can be oriented mechanically at an angle to the magnetic field, such as nematic phases. The consequent scaling of the chemical shift anisotropy and dipolar couplings can be used to resolve otherwise overlapping resonances, Moreover, an estimate of the accuracy of the technique can be achieved by performing a series of OMAS experiments with different sample orientations.

International audience; We present two sequences which combine ((1)H,(15)N) and ((15)N,(13)C) selective cross-polarization steps with an efficient variant of the J-based homonuclear transfer scheme, in which a spin-state-selective (S(3)E) block is incorporated to improve both resolution and sensitivity in the direct (13)C dimension. We propose these two sequences as a part of a suite of four N-C correlation experiments allowing for the assignment of protein backbone resonances in the solid state. We illustrate these experiments under ultra-fast magic angle spinning conditions on two samples of microcrystalline dimeric human superoxide dismutase (SOD, 153×2 amino acids), in its diamagnetic ("empty", Zn(II)) and paramagnetic (Cu(II), Zn(II)) states.

International audience; Substituted lithium transition-metal (TM) phosphate LiFexMn1-xPO4, materials with olivine-type structures are among the most promising next generation lithium ion battery cathodes. However, a complete atomic-level description of the structure of such phases is not yet available. Here, a combined experimental and theoretical approach to the detailed assignment of the P-31 NMR spectra of the LiFexMn1-xPO4 (x = 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1) pure and mixed TM phosphates is developed and applied. Key to the present work is the development of a new NMR experiment enabling the characterization of complex paramagnetic materials via the complete separation of the individual isotropic chemical shifts, along with solid-state hybrid DFT calculations providing the separate hyperfine contributions of all distinct Mn-O-P and Fe-O-P bond pathways. The NMR experiment, referred to as aMAT, makes use of short high-powered adiabatic pulses (SHAPs), which can achieve 100% inversion over a range of isotropic shifts on the order of 1 MHz and with anisotropies greater than 100 kHz. In addition to complete spectral assignments of the mixed phases, the present study provides a detailed insight into the differences in electronic structure driving the variations in hyperfine parameters across the range of materials. A simple model delimiting the effects of distortions due to Mn/Fe substitution is also proposed and applied. The combined approach has clear future applications to TM-bearing battery cathode phases in particular and for the understanding of complex paramagnetic phases in general.

International audience; A double-zero quantum (DZQ)-refocused INADEQUATE experiment is introduced for J-based NMR correlations under ultra-fast (60 kHz) magic angle spinning (MAS). The experiment records two spectra in the same dataset, a double quantumsingle quantum (DQ-SQ) and zero quantumsingle quantum (ZQ-SQ) spectrum, whereby the corresponding signals appear at different chemical shifts in ?1. Furthermore, the spin-state selective excitation (S3E) J-decoupling block is incorporated in place of the second refocusing echo of the INADEQUATE scheme, providing an additional gain in sensitivity and resolution. The two sub-spectra acquired in this way can be treated separately by a shearing transformation, producing two diagonal-free single quantum (SQ-SQ)-type spectra, which are subsequently recombined to give an additional sensitivity enhancement, thus offering an improvement greater than a factor of two as compared to the original refocused INADEQUATE experiment. The combined DZQ scheme retains transverse magnetization on the initially polarized (I) spin, which typically exhibits a longer transverse dephasing time (T2') than its through-bond neighbour (S). By doing so, less magnetization is lost during the refocusing periods in the sequence to give even further gains in sensitivity for the J correlations. The experiment is demonstrated for the correlation between the carbonyl (CO) and alpha (CA) carbons in a microcrystalline sample of fully protonated, [15N,13C]-labelled CuII,?ZnII superoxide dismutase, and its efficiency is discussed with respect to other J-based schemes.

The quasi-equilibrium behaviour of isolated nuclear spin systems in full and reduced Liouville spaces is discussed. We focus in particular on the reduced Liouville spaces used in the low-order correlations in Liouville space (LCL) simulation method, a restricted-spin-space approach to efficiently modelling the dynamics of large networks of strongly coupled spins. General numerical methods for the calculation of quasi-equilibrium expectation values of observables in Liouville space are presented. In particular, we treat the cases of a time-independent Hamiltonian, a time-periodic Hamiltonian (with and without stroboscopic sampling) and powder averaging. These quasi-equilibrium calculation methods are applied to the example case of spin diffusion in solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance. We show that there are marked differences between the quasi-equilibrium behaviour of spin systems in the full and reduced spaces. These differences are particularly interesting in the time-periodic-Hamiltonian case, where simulations carried out in the reduced space demonstrate ergodic behaviour even for small spins systems (as few as five homonuclei). The implications of this ergodic property on the success of the LCL method in modelling the dynamics of spin diffusion in magic-angle spinning experiments of powders is discussed. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4726162]

International audience; We propose a new framework for homonuclear dipolar decoupling in solid-state NMR that provides a theoretical link between the FSLG, PMLG and DUMBO families. We show that through the use of a Legendre polynomial basis, the phase modulation of these decoupling schemes can be described by the same set of parameters, permitting for the first time a direct theoretical comparison between these methods. Use of this common basis reveals that the central decoupling mechanism is the same for DUMBO and FSLG/PMLG and that a similar vector picture can be used to describe both methods. In addition to the common root of decoupling efficiency, this new analysis highlights two major points of difference between the methods. First, the DUMBO phase modulation consists not only of a linear change in phase with time a la PMLG but also smaller high-order oscillations, which act to improve line-narrowing performance. Second, we show how the DUMBO phase waveforms are generated from a four-step permutation of a single asymmetric unit, in contrast to the two-step permutation of PMLG. Numerical simulations and experimental results suggest that this latter point of difference is responsible for the superior performance of DUMBO in the presence of significant RF inhomogeneity.

International audience; Solid-state NMR can provide atomic-resolution information about protein motions occurring on a vast range of time scales under similar conditions to those of Xray diffraction studies and therefore offers a highly complementary approach to characterizing the dynamic fluctuations occurring in the crystal. We compare experimentally determined dynamic parameters, spin relaxation, chemical shifts, and dipolar couplings, to values calculated from a 200 ns MD simulation of protein GB1 in its crystalline form, providing insight into the nature of structural dynamics occurring within the crystalline lattice. This simulation allows us to test the accuracy of commonly applied procedures for the interpretation of experimental solid-state relaxation data in terms of dynamic modes and time scales. We discover that the potential complexity of relaxation-active motion can lead to significant under- or overestimation of dynamic amplitudes if different components are not taken into consideration.

International audience; Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) (29)Si solid-state NMR spectra of a hybrid mesoporous silica material impregnated with aqueous biradical solutions have been acquired with cross-polarization (CP) and cross-polarization Carr-Purcell Meiboom-Gill (CP/CPMG) pulse sequences. The integrated intensities (II) and signal to noise ratios (S/N) of the (29)Si solid-state NMR spectra are monitored in order to measure the DNP enhancement factors (epsilon(Si) (CP)) as well as the overall sensitivity enhancement (Sigma(Si) (CP)) available from the combination of DNP and CPMG acquisition. Here, Sigma(Si) (CP) (epsilon(Si) (CP)) ((sic)(Si)) root kappa, where theta(Si) is a factor which quantifies reduction of the NMR signal by paramagnetic effects (quenching) and kappa is the square root of the ratio of nuclear longitudinal relaxation times of the dry material and material impregnated with radical solution. It is found that Sigma(Si) (CP) is always substantially lower than the measured value of epsilon(Si) CP due to paramagnetic effects which reduce the II of the (29)Si CP solid-state NMR spectra at high biradical concentrations. In this system, it is observed that the sample preparation which provides optimal DNP signal enhancement does not provide optimal overall signal enhancement. Notably, optimal signal enhancements are obtained for CPMG acquisition of the (29)Si solid-state NMR spectra when lower radical concentrations are employed due to slower transverse relaxation rates. To the best of our knowledge this is the first study which seeks to quantify the overall sensitivity enhancements available from DNP solid-state NMR experiments.