The ratio of silicon-29 nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) coherence lifetimes for Q 4 and Q 3 sites under magic-angle spinning and a train of π pulses in a series of binary alkali silicate glasses is used to detect phase separation, even at small scales where the glass appears optically homogenous. This approach exploits the dependence of echo train coherence lifetimes on the residual heteronuclear dipolar coupling between Si-29 and the NMR active nuclei of neighboring network modifier cations. The shifted-echo phase incremented echo train acquisition NMR method is used to eliminate modulation of the echo train amplitudes due to J couplings across Si–O–Si linkages. A 2D Fourier and inverse Laplace transform of this dataset provides a correlation of the isotropic 29 Si chemical shift to echo train coherence lifetimes, giving a sensitive probe of phase separation as well as chemical composition and local structure of the different phases. The 29 Si Q 4 :Q 3 mean coherence lifetime ratios are 28.8, 23.8, and 5.8 in the phase-separated glasses, 0.05Li 2 O·0.95SiO 2 , 0.1Li 2 O·0.9SiO 2 and 0.05Na 2 O·0.95SiO 2 , respectively, while the ratio is reduced to 2.1, 1.6, and 1.6 in glasses not exhibiting signs of phase separation, 0.05K 2 O·0.95SiO 2 , 0.05Cs 2 O·0.95SiO 2 and 0.10Cs 2 O·0.90SiO 2 , respectively. Phase separation inhibition, through addition of alumina, is also verified in 0.07Li 2 O·0.02Al 2 O 3 ·0.91SiO 2 .
more »
« less
A modernized view of coherence pathways applied to magnetic resonance experiments in unstable, inhomogeneous fields
This article presents a standardized alternative to the traditional phase cycling approach employed by the overwhelming majority of contemporary Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) research. On well-tested, stable NMR systems running well-tested pulse sequences in highly optimized, homogeneous magnetic fields, the hardware and/or software responsible for traditional phase cycling quickly isolate a meaningful subset of data by averaging and discarding between 3/4 and 127/128 of the digitized data. In contrast, the new domain colored coherence transfer (DCCT) approach enables the use of all the information acquired from all transients. This approach proves to be particularly useful where multiple coherence pathways are required, or for improving the signal when the magnetic fields are inhomogeneous and unstable. For example, the authors’ interest in the nanoscale heterogeneities of hydration dynamics demands increasingly sophisticated and automated measurements deploying Overhauser Dynamic Nuclear Polarization (ODNP) in low-field electromagnets, where phase cycling and signal averaging perform suboptimally. This article demonstrates the capabilities of DCCT on ODNP data and with a collection of algorithms that provide robust phasing, avoidance of baseline distortion, and the ability to realize relatively weak signals amid background noise through signal-averaged correlation alignment. The DCCT schema works by combining a multidimensional organization of phase cycled data with a specific methodology for visualizing the resulting complex-valued data. It could be extended to other forms of coherent spectroscopy seeking to analyze multiple coherence transfer pathways.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 2146270
- PAR ID:
- 10391656
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- The Journal of Chemical Physics
- Volume:
- 157
- Issue:
- 17
- ISSN:
- 0021-9606
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 174204
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) is widely used to enhance solid state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) sensitivity. Its efficiency as a generic signal-enhancing approach for liquid state NMR, however, decays rapidly with magnetic field B 0 , unless mediated by scalar interactions arising only in exceptional cases. This has prevented a more widespread use of DNP in structural and dynamical solution NMR analyses. This study introduces a potential solution to this problem, relying on biradicals with exchange couplings J ex of the order of the electron Larmor frequency ω E . Numerical and analytical calculations show that in such J ex ≈ ± ω E cases a phenomenon akin to that occurring in chemically induced DNP (CIDNP) happens, leading to different relaxation rates for the biradical singlet and triplet states which are hyperfine-coupled to the nuclear α or β states. Microwave irradiation can then generate a transient nuclear polarization build-up with high efficiency, at all magnetic fields that are relevant in contemporary NMR, and for all rotational diffusion correlation times that occur in small- and medium-sized molecules in conventional solvents.more » « less
-
The open-source Python package, MRSimulator, is presented as a simple-to-use, fast, versatile, and extendable package capable of simulating one- and higher-dimensional Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectra under static, magic-angle, and variable-angle conditions. High benchmarks in spectral simulations are achieved by assuming that there are no degeneracies in the energy eigenstates, i.e., all dipolar couplings are in the weak limit and that there are no rotational resonances during evolution periods. Under these assumptions, the symmetry pathway formalism is exploited to reduce an NMR method applied to a spin system into a sum of individual transition pathways, whose signals are more efficiently calculated individually than as part of a full-density matrix simulation. To increase numerical efficiencies further, our approach restricts coherence transfer among transitions to pure rotations about an axis in the x–y plane of the rotating frame or through an artificial total mixing operation between selected transitions of adjacent free evolution periods. The assumptions used in this approach are valid for most commonly used solid-state NMR methods. Details of the implementation, along with example code usage, are given, including a least-squares spectral analysis.more » « less
-
The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond has enabled studies of nanoscale nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and electron paramagnetic resonance with high sensitivity in small sample volumes. Most NV-detected NMR (NV-NMR) experiments are performed at low magnetic fields. While low fields are useful in many applications, high-field NV-NMR with fine spectral resolution, high signal sensitivity, and the capability to observe a wider range of nuclei is advantageous for surface detection, microfluidic, and condensed matter studies aimed at probing micro- and nanoscale features. However, only a handful of experiments above 1 T were reported. Herein, we report 13C NV-NMR spectroscopy at 4.2 T, where the NV Larmor frequency is 115 GHz. Using an electron-nuclear double resonance technique, we successfully detect NV-NMR of two diamond samples. The analysis of the NMR linewidth based on the dipolar broadening theory of Van Vleck shows that the observed linewidths from sample 1 are consistent with the intrinsic NMR linewidth of the sample. For sample 2 we find a narrower linewidth of 44 ppm. This work paves the way for new applications of nanoscale NV-NMR.more » « less
-
Hyperpolarization methods in magnetic resonance overcome sensitivity limitations, especially for low-γ nuclei such as 13 C and 15 N. Signal Amplification By Reversible Exchange (SABRE) and extended SABRE (X-SABRE) are efficient and low-cost methods for generating large polarizations on a variety of nuclei, but they most commonly use low magnetic fields (μT–mT). High field approaches, where hyperpolarization is generated directly in the spectrometer, are potentially much more convenient but have been limited to selectively hyperpolarize single targets. Here we introduce a new pulse sequence-based approach that affords broadband excitation of SABRE hyperpolarization at high magnetic fields without having to tailor pulse sequence parameters to specific targets. This permits simultaneous hyperpolarization of multiple targets for the first time at high field and offers a direct approach to integration of high-field SABRE hyperpolarization into routine NMR applications, such as NMR-based metabonomics and biomolecular NMR.more » « less
An official website of the United States government

