Water in cellulose: evidence and identification of immobile and mobile adsorbed phases by 2H MAS NMR.

The organization of water molecules adsorbed onto cellulose and the supramolecular hydrated structure of microfibril aggregates represents, still today, one of the open and complex questions in the physical chemistry of natural polymers. Here, we investigate by 2H MAS NMR the mobility of water molecules in carefully 2H-exchanged, and thereafter re-dried, microcrystalline cellulose. By subtracting the spectral contribution of deuteroxyls from the spectrum of hydrated cellulose, we demonstrate the existence of two distinct 2H2O spectral populations associated with mobile and immobile water environments, between which the water molecules do not exchange at the NMR observation time scale. We conclude that those two water phases are located at differently-accessible adsorption sites, here assigned to the cellulose surfaces between and within the microfibril aggregates, respectively. The superior performance of 2H MAS NMR encourages further applications of the same method to other complex systems that expose heterogeneous hygroscopic surfaces, like wood cell walls.

Site-resolved (2)H relaxation experiments in solid materials by global line-shape analysis of MAS NMR spectra.

We investigate a way one can achieve good spectral resolution in (2)H MAS NMR experiments. The goal is to be able to distinguish between and study sites in various deuterated materials with small chemical shift dispersion. We show that the (2)H MAS NMR spectra recorded during a spin-relaxation experiment are amenable to spectral decomposition because of the different evolution of spectral components during the relaxation delay. We verify that the results are robust by global least-square fitting of the spectral series both under the assumption of specific line shapes and without such assumptions (COmponent-REsolved spectroscopy, CORE). In addition, we investigate the reliability of the developed protocol by analyzing spectra simulated with different combinations of spectral parameters. The performance is demonstrated in a model material of deuterated poly(methacrylic acid) that contains two (2)H spin populations with similar chemical shifts but different quadrupole splittings. In (2)H-exchanged cellulose containing two (2)H spin populations with very similar chemical shifts and quadrupole splittings, the method provides new site-selective information about the molecular dynamics.

MRI profiles over very wide concentration ranges: application to swelling of a bentonite clay.

In MRI investigation of soils, clays, and rocks, mainly mobile water is detected, similarly to that in biological and medical samples. However, the spin relaxation properties of water in these materials and/or low water concentration may make it difficult to use standard MRI approaches. Despite these limitations, one can combine MRI techniques developed for solid and liquid states and use independent information on relaxation properties of water, interacting with the material of interest, to obtain true images of both water and material content. We present procedures for obtaining such true density maps and demonstrate their use for studying the swelling of bentonite clay by water. A constant time imaging protocol provides 1D mapping of the clay distribution in regions with clay concentration above 10 vol%. T(1) relaxation time imaging is employed to monitor the clay content down to 10(-3) vol%. Data provided by those two approaches are in good agreement in the overlapping range of concentrations. Covering five orders of magnitude of clay concentration, swelling of sodium-exchanged bentonite clays from pre-compacted pellets into a gel phase is followed in detail.

NMR cryoporometry with octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane as a probe liquid. Accessing large pores.

Octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane is presented and investigated as probe liquid for NMR cryoporometry or DSC-based thermoporometry. This compound which may imbibe into both hydrophilic and hydrophobic pores is shown to exhibit a melting point depression that is larger than that for other cryoporometric probe materials such as cyclohexane. The transverse relaxation time differs by more than three orders of magnitude between the solid and liquid states, separated by a sharp phase transition. Hence, as demonstrated in controlled pore glasses, octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane can provide pore size distributions for materials with pore sizes up to the micrometer range.

Inorganic salt hydrates as cryoporometric probe materials to obtain pore size distribution.

The depression of the melting temperature of Zn(NO3)2.6H2O was used to obtain the pore size distributions in controlled pore glasses. Measured by 1H NMR, the average value of the temperature depression DeltaT and the known average pore size yield K=DeltaT.d approximately 116 K.nm as the material-dependent factor for Zn(NO3)2.6H2O in the Gibbs-Thompson equation. The melting temperature is close to room temperature. Hence, this salt hydrate and some related other ones are better materials than water (K approximately 50 K.nm) for cryoporometric studies of systems with hydrophilic pores. The data also provide 46 mN/m for the solid-liquid surface tension of this salt hydrate.

Diffusion-diffusion correlation and exchange as a signature for local order and dynamics.

We demonstrate the use of new two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance experiments in the examination of local diffusional anisotropy under conditions of global isotropy. The methods, known as diffusion-diffusion correlation spectroscopy and diffusion exchange spectroscopy, employ successive pairs of magnetic field gradient pulses, with signal analysis using two-dimensional inverse Laplace transformation. Diffusional anisotropy is measured for water molecules in a polydomain lamellar phase lyotropic liquid crystal, 40 wt % nonionic surfactant C10E3 (C10H21O(CH2CH2O)6H) in H2O.

NMR magnetization transfer as a tool for characterization of nanoporous materials.

The application of nuclear magnetic resonance magnetization transfer experiments to probe the surface-to-volume ratio and pore morphology of porous materials with characteristic pore sizes of 1-100 nm is described. The method is based on the phenomenon of incomplete freezing of liquids in small pores where a few monolayers adjacent to the pore walls remain liquid. Sufficient difference between the transverse relaxation times in the solid frozen core and liquid surface layer allows the initial preparation and subsequent re-equilibration of a solid-liquid magnetization grating. The method is demonstrated using model nanoporous materials with known characteristics. The ensuing problems of the mechanism of the magnetization transfer through the interface and within the frozen core are discussed and elucidated by pulsed-field-gradient NMR experiments.

Anisotropic self-diffusion in thermotropic liquid crystals studied by 1H and 2H pulse-field-gradient spin-echo NMR.

The molecular self-diffusion coefficients in nematic and smectic-A thermotropic liquid crystals are measured using stimulated-echo-type 2H and 1H pulse-field-gradient spin-echo nuclear magnetic resonance (PGSE NMR) combined with multiple-pulse dipolar decoupling and slice selection. The temperature dependence of the principal components of the diffusion tensor in the nematic phase follows a simple Arrhenius relationship except in the region of nematic-isotropic phase transition where it reflects, merely, the decrease of the molecular orientational order. The average of the principal diffusion coefficients in the isotropic-nematic phase transition region is close to the diffusion coefficient in the isotropic phase. At the nematic-smectic-A phase transition the diffusion coefficients change continuously. The results in nematic phase are best described in terms of the affine transformation model for diffusion in nematics formed by hard ellipsoids. In the smectic-A phase the data are interpreted using a modified model for diffusion in presence of a periodic potential along the director.

Molecular self-diffusion in a columnar liquid crystalline phase determined by deuterium NMR.

We report translational diffusion coefficients in a columnar phase of a discotic liquid crystal formed by a triphenylene-based compound. The experiments were performed using 2H stimulated-echo-type pulsed-field-gradient spin-echo NMR applied to a chain-deuterated sample. The diffusion coefficients were found in the range of 1x10(-14)-4x10(-14) m2/s, three orders of magnitude lower than in the isotopic phase of the same compound. This, together with the high activation energy obtained in columnar phase, indicates that the diffusion is dominated by solidlike jump processes.

Deuterium stimulated-echo-type PGSE NMR experiments for measuring diffusion: application to a liquid crystal.

The accessibility of molecular self-diffusion coefficients in anisotropic materials, such as liquid crystals or solids, by stimulated-echo-type (2)H PGSE NMR is examined. The amplitude and phase modulation of the signal in the stimulated-echo-type sequence by the static quadrupole coupling during the encoding/decoding delays is suppressed by adjusting the pulse flip angles and the phase cycle. For nuclei that experience both nonnegligible quadrupole and dipole couplings, the application of magic echoes during the evolution periods of stimulated echo is demonstrated as a helpful technique in the case of slow diffusion. These findings are demonstrated by experimental results in the thermotropic liquid crystal of partially deuterated 8CB. The obtained diffusion coefficients are also compared to data obtained by a (1)H homonuclear-decoupling-type PGSE NMR method in the same material.

Measurement of the principal values of the anisotropic diffusion tensor in an unoriented sample by exploiting the chemical shift anisotropy: (19)F PGSE NMR with homonuclear decoupling.

NMR methods (S. V. Dvinskikh et al., J. Magn. Reson. 142, 102-110 (2000) and S. V. Dvinskikh and I. Furó, J. Magn. Reson. 144, 142-149 (2000)) that combine PGSE with dipolar decoupling are extended to polycrystalline solids and unoriented liquid crystals. Decoupling suppresses dipolar dephasing not only during the gradient pulses but also under signal acquisition so that the detected spectral shape is dominated by the chemical shift tensor of the selected nucleus. The decay of the spectral intensity at different positions in the powder spectrum provides the diffusion coefficient in sample regions with their crystal axes oriented differently with respect to the direction of the field gradient. Hence, one can obtain the principal values of the diffusion tensor. The method is demonstrated by (19)F PGSE NMR with homonuclear decoupling in a lyotropic lamellar liquid crystal.

Cross-relaxation effects in stimulated-echo-type PGSE NMR experiments by bipolar and monopolar gradient pulses

Exchange of longitudinal spin polarization by dipolar cross relaxation between nonequivalent spins results in a modulation of the stimulated echo signal on increasing the encoding/decoding delays and in a multiexponential decay on increasing the diffusion time. These artifacts are suppressed by 180 degrees pulses inserted in the middle of the gradient encoding/decoding periods. The efficiency of the gradient encoding is preserved if bipolar gradient pulses are used instead of monopolar pulses. The behavior of the different pulse sequences is demonstrated by (19)F PGSE NMR experiments in a lyotropic liquid crystal in both isotropic micellar and oriented nematic phases. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.

Combining PGSE NMR with homonuclear dipolar decoupling.

A new robust approach for combining multiple-pulse homonuclear decoupling and PGSE NMR is introduced for accurately measuring molecular diffusion coefficients in systems with nonvanishing static homonuclear dipolar couplings. Homonuclear decoupling suppresses dipolar dephasing during the gradient pulses but its efficiency and scaling factor for the effective gradient vary across the sample because of the large variation of the frequency offset caused by the gradient. The resulting artifacts are reduced by introducing a slice selection scheme. The method is demonstrated by (19)F PGSE NMR experiments in a lyotropic liquid crystal.

Accurate intensities of broad NMR lines from composite pulse experiments.

Accurate determination of integral intensities of broad lines is difficult when spin relaxation during the applied pulses cannot be neglected and/or when ringing of the tank circuit interferes with the signal. Here we present an extension of the analytical solution of the generalized Bloch equations (G. A. Morris and P. B. Chilvers, J. Magn. Reson. A 107, 236 (1994)), which is then used to evaluate the signal intensity obtained in a composite pulse experiment designed to cancel ringing effects. Comparing intensities of broad and narrow (81)Br spectral lines tests and proves the accuracy of this approach.

13C PGSE NMR experiment with heteronuclear dipolar decoupling to measure diffusion in liquid crystals and solids.

A new PGSE NMR experiment, designed to measure molecular diffusion coefficients in systems with nonvanishing static dipolar coupling, is described. The fast static dipolar dephasing of the single-quantum (13)C coherences is removed by multiple-pulse heteronuclear decoupling. The resulting slow dephasing of the (13)C coherences allows for inserting appropriate gradient pulses into the pulse sequence. The presence of the large magnetic field gradient reduces the efficiency of the decoupling sequences which is compensated for by introducing a scheme of sequential slice selection across the sample. The method is demonstrated by (19)F-decoupled (13)C PGSE NMR experiments in a lyotropic nematic and lamellar liquid crystal.

Water-surfactant contact studied by 19F-1H heteronuclear overhauser effect spectroscopy

Intermolecular 19F-1H cross-relaxation is measured using heteronuclear Overhauser effect NMR spectroscopy (HOESY) in the micellar solution of cesium pentadecafluorooctanoate. The results are analyzed in terms of a weak 1H-19F cross-relaxation between the water protons and the fluorines in the fluoroalkyl chain and a strong 19F-19F cross-relaxation within the fluoroalkyl chain. The water-surfactant cross-relaxation indicates a water approach to the first CF2 segment in the order of 2.0 A and a short (<

Temperature imaging by 1H NMR and suppression of convection in NMR probes

A simple arrangement for suppressing convection in NMR probes is tested experimentally. Diffusion experiments are used to determine the onset of convection and 1H temperature imaging helps to rationalize the somewhat surprising results. A convenient new 1H NMR thermometer, CH2Br2 dissolved in a nematic thermotropic liquid crystal, is presented. Copyright 1998 Academic Press.