Frédérique Pourpoint

First-Principles Calculation of NMR Parameters Using the Gauge Including Projector Augmented Wave Method: A Chemist’s Point of View

Including Projector Augmented Wave Method: A Chemist’s Point of View Christian Bonhomme,*,† Christel Gervais,*,† Florence Babonneau,† Cristina Coelho,‡ Fred́eŕique Pourpoint,† Thierry Azaïs,† Sharon E. Ashbrook,* John M. Griffin, Jonathan R. Yates,* Francesco Mauri, and Chris J. Pickard †Laboratoire de Chimie de la Matier̀e Condenseé de Paris, Universite ́ Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris 06, CNRS UMR 7574, Colleg̀e de France, 75005 Paris, France ‡IMPC, Institut des Mateŕiaux de Paris Centre, FR2482, UPMC Universite ́ Pierre et Marie Curie Paris 06, Colleg̀e de France, 11 place Marcelin Berthelot, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France School of Chemistry and EaStCHEM, University of St. Andrews, North Haugh, St. Andrews KY16 9ST, United Kingdom Department of Materials, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PH, United Kingdom Laboratoire de Mineŕalogie Crystallographie, UMR CNRS 7590, Universite ́ Pierre et Marie Curie, UPMC, 75015 Paris, France Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom

Insights into the Catalytic Activity of Nitridated Fibrous Silica (KCC-1) Nanocatalysts from 15 N and 29 Si NMR Spectroscopy Enhanced by Dynamic Nuclear Polarization**

Fibrous nanosilica (KCC-1) oxynitrides are promising solid-base catalysts. Paradoxically, when their nitrogen content increases, their catalytic activity decreases. This counterintuitive observation is explained here for the first time using (15) N-solid-state NMR spectroscopy enhanced by dynamic nuclear polarization.

87Sr solid-state NMR as a structurally sensitive tool for the investigation of materials: antiosteoporotic pharmaceuticals and bioactive glasses.

Strontium is an element of fundamental importance in biomedical science. Indeed, it has been demonstrated that Sr(2+) ions can promote bone growth and inhibit bone resorption. Thus, the oral administration of Sr-containing medications has been used clinically to prevent osteoporosis, and Sr-containing biomaterials have been developed for implant and tissue engineering applications. The bioavailability of strontium metal cations in the body and their kinetics of release from materials will depend on their local environment. It is thus crucial to be able to characterize, in detail, strontium environments in disordered phases such as bioactive glasses, to understand their structure and rationalize their properties. In this paper, we demonstrate that (87)Sr NMR spectroscopy can serve as a valuable tool of investigation. First, the implementation of high-sensitivity (87)Sr solid-state NMR experiments is presented using (87)Sr-labeled strontium malonate (with DFS (double field sweep), QCPMG (quadrupolar Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill), and WURST (wideband, uniform rate, and smooth truncation) excitation). Then, it is shown that GIPAW DFT (gauge including projector augmented wave density functional theory) calculations can accurately compute (87)Sr NMR parameters. Last and most importantly, (87)Sr NMR is used for the study of a (Ca,Sr)-silicate bioactive glass of limited Sr content (only ~9 wt %). The spectrum is interpreted using structural models of the glass, which are generated through molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and relaxed by DFT, before performing GIPAW calculations of (87)Sr NMR parameters. Finally, changes in the (87)Sr NMR spectrum after immersion of the glass in simulated body fluid (SBF) are reported and discussed.

Measurement of Aluminum-Carbon Distances Using S-RESPDOR NMR Experiments

It is demonstrated that reliable aluminum-carbon distances can be measured in samples with (13)C natural abundance by NMR spectroscopy. Overcoupled resonators, with only one radio-frequency synthesizer and one amplifier, are used to irradiate in the same pulse sequence (27)Al and (13)C nuclei, which differ by only 3.6 % in Larmor frequencies. The combination of (27)Al saturation pulse with heteronuclear dipolar recoupling yields dipolar dephasing of the (13)C signal, which only depends on the Al-C distance and the efficiency of the saturation pulse. Therefore, reliable distances can be obtained by rapid fitting of experimental data to an analytical expression. It is demonstrated that with natural isotopic abundance this approach allows recovery of Al-C distances of 216 pm for the covalent bond in lithium tetraalkyl aluminates, commonly used as a co-catalyst in olefin polymerization processes, and which range from 274 to 381 pm for the three carbon atoms in aluminum lactate. The accuracy of the measured internuclear distances is carefully estimated.

Structural, textural and acid–base properties of carbonate-containing hydroxyapatites

Carbonate-containing hydroxyapatites with different Ca/P ratios and optionally containing Na+ cations were successfully synthesized using a precipitation method. The solids were extensively characterized by XRD, LEIS, XPS, IR, TGA and NMR. Further, their acid–base properties were determined by NH3-TPD, PEA-XPS, CO2-TPD and by pulsed liquid chromatography using benzoic acid as a probe. The so-obtained structural, textural and acid–base properties could be finely correlated to give a clear picture of the system. The acidic properties of hydroxyapatites were attributed to Ca2+, surface HPO42− and OH− vacancies and the basic properties were attributed to PO43−, OH− and CaO species. The fine-tuning of the amount, of the nature and the strength of acid–base properties derived by varying the carbonate content in hydroxyapatites can find applications in catalysis, which was illustrated by isopropanol reactivity.

New perspectives in the PAW/GIPAW approach: JP‐O‐Si coupling constants, antisymmetric parts of shift tensors and NQR predictions

In 2001, Pickard and Mauri implemented the gauge including projected augmented wave (GIPAW) protocol for first‐principles calculations of NMR parameters using periodic boundary conditions (chemical shift anisotropy and electric field gradient tensors). In this paper, three potentially interesting perspectives in connection with PAW/GIPAW in solid‐state NMR and pure nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) are presented: (i) the calculation of J coupling tensors in inorganic solids; (ii) the calculation of the antisymmetric part of chemical shift tensors and (iii) the prediction of 14N and 35Cl pure NQR resonances including dynamics. We believe that these topics should open new insights in the combination of GIPAW, NMR/NQR crystallography, temperature effects and dynamics. Points (i), (ii) and (iii) will be illustrated by selected examples: (i) chemical shift tensors and heteronuclear 2JPOSi coupling constants in the case of silicophosphates and calcium phosphates [Si5O(PO4)6, SiP2O7 polymorphs and α‐Ca(PO3)2]; (ii) antisymmetric chemical shift tensors in cyclopropene derivatives, C3X4 (X = H, Cl, F) and (iii) 14N and 35Cl NQR predictions in the case of RDX (C3H6N6O6), β‐HMX (C4H8N8O8), α‐NTO (C2H2N4O3) and AlOPCl6. RDX, β‐HMX and α‐NTO are explosive compounds. Copyright

The D-HMQC MAS-NMR Technique: An Efficient Tool for the Editing of Through-Space Correlation Spectra Between Quadrupolar and Spin-1/2 (31P, 29Si, 1H, 13C) Nuclei

The D-HMQC (dipolar heteronuclear multiple-quantum coherence) technique is a recently developed NMR pulse sequence particularly suitable for the investigation of spatial proximity between quadrupolar and spin-1/2 nuclei. Compared to the cross-polarisation magic-angle spinning technique applied to a quadrupolar nucleus, D-HMQC does not require time-consuming optimisations and exhibits on the quadrupolar spin a better robustness to irradiation offset and to Cq values and radiofrequency field. Furthermore, the high robustness to irradiation offset makes of the D-HMQC sequence the technique of choice for the structural characterisation of materials especially at high magnetic field. We show here how the D-HMQC can be easily implemented and optimised to give access to the structural analysis of silicate-, phosphate-, carbon- and proton-containing materials. An emphasis will be on describing the most popular dipolar recoupling schemes that can be used in that sequence and providing their advantages and drawbacks.

Host-Guest Interactions in Dealuminated HY Zeolite Probed by C-13-Al-27 Solid-State NMR Spectroscopy

Host-guest interactions in dealuminated HY zeolite have been investigated by advanced (13)C-(27)Al solid-state NMR experiments. This analysis allows us to report new insights into the adsorption geometry of acetone and its interaction with acid sites in the zeolite channels.

NMR Crystallography of an Oxovanadium(V) Complex by an Approach Combining Multinuclear Magic Angle Spinning NMR, DFT, and Spin Dynamics Simulations

Bioinorganic vanadium(V) solids are often challenging for structural analysis. Here, we explore an NMR crystallography approach involving multinuclear (13) C/(51) V solid-state NMR spectroscopy, density functional theory (DFT), and spin dynamics numerical simulations, for the spectral assignment and the 3D structural analysis of an isotopically unmodified oxovanadium(V) complex, containing 17 crystallographically inequivalent (13) C sites. In particular, we report the first NMR determination of C-V distances. So far, the NMR observation of (13) C-(51) V proximities has been precluded by the specification of commercial NMR probes, which cannot be tuned simultaneously to the close Larmor frequencies of these isotopes (100.6 and 105.2 MHz for (13) C and (51) V, respectively, at 9.4 T). By combining DFT calculations and (13) C-(51) V NMR experiments, we propose a complete assignment of the (13) C spectrum of this oxovanadium(V) complex. Furthermore, we show how (13) C-(51) V distances can be quantitatively estimated.

Solid-state NMR indirect detection of nuclei experiencing large anisotropic interactions using spinning sideband-selective pulses.

Under Magic-Angle Spinning (MAS), a long radio-frequency (rf) pulse applied on resonance achieves the selective excitation of the center-band of a wide NMR spectrum. We show herein that these rf pulses can be applied on the indirect channel of Hetero-nuclear Multiple-Quantum Correlation (HMQC) sequences, which facilitate the indirect detection via spin-1/2 isotopes of nuclei exhibiting wide spectra. Numerical simulations show that this indirect excitation method is applicable to spin-1/2 nuclei experiencing a large chemical shift anisotropy, as well as to spin-1 isotopes subject to a large quadrupole interaction, such as (14)N. The performances of the long pulses are analyzed by the numerical simulations of scalar-mediated HMQC (J-HMQC) experiments indirectly detecting spin-1/2 or spin-1 nuclei, as well as by dipolar-mediated HMQC (D-HMQC) experiments achieving indirect detection of (14)N nuclei via (1)H in crystalline γ-glycine and N-acetyl-valine samples at a MAS frequency of 60kHz. We show on these solids that for the acquisition of D-HMQC spectra between (1)H and (14)N nuclei, the efficiency of selective moderate excitation with long-pulses at the (14)N Larmor frequency, ν0((14)N), is comparable to those with strong excitation pulses at ν0((14)N) or 2ν0((14)N) frequencies, given the rf field delivered by common solid-state NMR probes. Furthermore, the D-HMQC experiments also demonstrate that the use of long pulses does not produce significant spectral distortions along the (14)N dimension. In summary, the use of center-band selective weak pulses is advantageous for HMQC experiments achieving the indirect detection of wide spectra since it (i) requires a moderate rf field, (ii) can be easily optimized, (iii) displays a high robustness to CSAs, offsets, rf-field inhomogeneities, and fluctuations in MAS frequency, and (iv) is little dependent on the quadrupolar coupling constant.