More Like this

1. NMR Crystallography: Evaluation of Hydrogen Positions in Hydromagnesite by 13 C{ 1 H} REDOR Solid‐State NMR and Density Functional Theory Calculation of Chemical Shielding Tensors

   https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201813306  

   Cui, Jinlei ; Olmsted, David L. ; Mehta, Anil K. ; Asta, Mark ; Hayes, Sophia E. ( February 2019 , Angewandte Chemie International Edition)

   Solid‐state NMR measurements coupled with density functional theory (DFT) calculations demonstrate how hydrogen positions can be refined in a crystalline system. The precision afforded by rotational‐echo double‐resonance (REDOR) NMR to interrogate¹³C–¹H distances is exploited along with DFT determinations of the¹³C tensor of carbonates (CO₃²⁻). Nearby¹H nuclei perturb the axial symmetry of the carbonate sites in the hydrated carbonate mineral, hydromagnesite [4 MgCO₃⋅Mg(OH)₂⋅4 H₂O]. A match between the calculated structure and solid‐state NMR was found by testing multiple semi‐local and dispersion‐corrected DFT functionals and applying them to optimize atom positions, starting from X‐ray diffraction (XRD)‐determined atomic coordinates. This was validated by comparing calculated to experimental¹³C{¹H} REDOR and¹³C chemical shift anisotropy (CSA) tensor values. The results show that the combination of solid‐state NMR, XRD, and DFT can improve structure refinement for hydrated materials.

    

   more » « less
2. NMR Crystallography: Evaluation of Hydrogen Positions in Hydromagnesite by 13 C{ 1 H} REDOR Solid‐State NMR and Density Functional Theory Calculation of Chemical Shielding Tensors

   https://doi.org/10.1002/ange.201813306  

   Cui, Jinlei ; Olmsted, David L. ; Mehta, Anil K. ; Asta, Mark ; Hayes, Sophia E. ( February 2019 , Angewandte Chemie)

   Solid‐state NMR measurements coupled with density functional theory (DFT) calculations demonstrate how hydrogen positions can be refined in a crystalline system. The precision afforded by rotational‐echo double‐resonance (REDOR) NMR to interrogate¹³C–¹H distances is exploited along with DFT determinations of the¹³C tensor of carbonates (CO₃²⁻). Nearby¹H nuclei perturb the axial symmetry of the carbonate sites in the hydrated carbonate mineral, hydromagnesite [4 MgCO₃⋅Mg(OH)₂⋅4 H₂O]. A match between the calculated structure and solid‐state NMR was found by testing multiple semi‐local and dispersion‐corrected DFT functionals and applying them to optimize atom positions, starting from X‐ray diffraction (XRD)‐determined atomic coordinates. This was validated by comparing calculated to experimental¹³C{¹H} REDOR and¹³C chemical shift anisotropy (CSA) tensor values. The results show that the combination of solid‐state NMR, XRD, and DFT can improve structure refinement for hydrated materials.

    

   more » « less
3. Anharmonic contribution to the stabilization of Mg(OH) 2 from first principles

   https://doi.org/10.1039/C8CP02490A  

   Treviño, P. ; Garcia-Castro, A. C. ; López-Moreno, S. ; Bautista-Hernández, A. ; Bobocioiu, E. ; Reynard, B. ; Caracas, R. ; Romero, A. H. ( January 2018 , Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics)

   Geometrical and vibrational characterization of magnesium hydroxide was performed using density functional theory. Four possible crystal symmetries were explored: P 3̄ (No. 147, point group −3), C 2/ m (No. 12, point group 2), P 3 m 1 (No. 156, point group 3 m ) and P 3̄ m 1 (No. 164, point group −3 m ) which are the currently accepted geometries found in the literature. While a lot of work has been performed on Mg(OH) 2 , in particular for the P 3̄ m 1 phase, there is still a debate on the observed ground state crystal structure and the anharmonic effects of the OH vibrations on the stabilization of the crystal structure. In particular, the stable positions of hydrogen are not yet defined precisely, which have implications in the crystal symmetry, the vibrational excitations, and the thermal stability. Previous work has assigned the P 3̄ m 1 polymorph as the low energy phase, but it has also proposed that hydrogens are disordered and they could move from their symmetric position in the P 3̄ m 1 structure towards P 3̄. In this paper, we examine the stability of the proposed phases by using different descriptors. We compare the XRD patterns with reported experimental results, and a fair agreement is found. While harmonic vibrational analysis shows that most phases have imaginary modes at 0 K, anharmonic vibrational analysis indicates that at room temperature only the C 2/ m phase is stabilized, whereas at higher temperatures, other phases become thermally competitive. 

   more » « less
4. Structural Chemistry of Akdalaite, Al10O14(OH)2, the Isostructural Aluminum Analogue of Ferrihydrite

   https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst9050246  

   Parise, John B. ; Xia, Bingying ; Simonson, Jack W. ; Woerner, William R. ; Plonka, Anna M. ; Phillips, Brian L. ; Ehm, Lars ( May 2019 , Crystals)

   As part of an effort to characterize clusters and intermediate phases likely to be encountered along solution reaction pathways that produce iron and aluminum oxide-hydroxides from Fe and Al precursors, the complete structure of Al10O14(OH)2 (akdalaite) was determined from a combination of single-crystal X-ray diffraction (SC-XRD) data collected at 100 K to define the Al and O positions, and solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and neutron powder diffraction (NPD) data collected at room temperature (~300 K) to precisely determine the nature of hydrogen in the structure. Two different synthesis routes produced different crystal morphologies. Using an aluminum oxyhydroxide floc made from mixing AlCl3 and 0.48 M NaOH, the product had uniform needle morphology, while using nanocrystalline boehmite (Vista Chemical Company Catapal D alumina) as the starting material produced hexagonal plates. Akdalaite crystallizes in the space group P63mc with lattice parameters of a = 5.6244(3) Å and c = 8.8417(3) Å (SC-XRD) and a = 5.57610(2) Å and c = 8.77247(6) Å (NPD). The crystal structure features Al13O40 Keggin clusters. The structural chemistry of akdalaite is nonideal but broadly conforms to that of ferrihydrite, the nanomineral with which it is isostructural. 

   more » « less
5. Resolving the Chemical Formula of Nesquehonite via NMR Crystallography, DFT Computation, and Complementary Neutron Diffraction

   https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.202203052  

   Cui, Jinlei ; Prisk, Timothy R. ; Olmsted, David L. ; Su, Vicky ; Asta, Mark ; Hayes, Sophia E. ( December 2022 , Chemistry – A European Journal)

   Nesquehonite is a magnesium carbonate mineral relevant to carbon sequestration envisioned for carbon capture and storage of CO₂. Its chemical formula remains controversial today, assigned as either a hydrated magnesium carbonate [MgCO₃ ⋅ 3H₂O], or a hydroxy‐ hydrated‐ magnesium bicarbonate [Mg(HCO₃)OH ⋅ 2H₂O]. The resolution of this controversy is central to understanding this material‘s thermodynamic, phase, and chemical behavior. In an NMR crystallography study, using rotational‐echo double‐resonance¹³C{¹H} (REDOR),¹³C−¹H distances are determined with precision, and the combination of¹³C static NMR lineshapes and density functional theory (DFT) calculations are used to model different H atomic coordinates. [MgCO₃ ⋅ 3H₂O] is found to be accurate, and evidence from neutron powder diffraction bolsters these assignments. Refined H positions can help understand how H‐bonding stabilizes this structure against dehydration to MgCO₃. More broadly, these results illustrate the power of NMR crystallography as a technique for resolving questions where X‐ray diffraction is inconclusive.

    

   more » « less