129Xe Nuclear Shielding and Diffusion in the A and C* Phases of a Chiral Smectogen

Cage-Like Local Structure of Ionic Liquids Revealed by a (129)Xe Chemical Shift

The chemical shift of xenon (at natural abundance) dissolved in a variety of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium-based ionic liquids (ILs) has been measured with (129)Xe NMR spectroscopy. The large chemical shift differences observed are mainly related to the type of anion; the strongest deshielding effect is observed ILs with I(-), Br(-), and Cl(-) anions, and the strongest shielding is found for the bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide ([Tf2N](-))-based IL. The measured (129)Xe chemical shift variations correlate well with the IL structure organization imposed by the anions and with the size of the empty voids due to charge alternation patterns. Descriptors taken from literature data on X-ray and neutron scattering, as well as single-crystal structures where available, support this interpretation. The proposed methodology adds a new investigating tool to the elucidation of the short-range order in ILs. The observed chemical shift trend provides information about how these solvents are organized.

Pairwise additivity in the nuclear magnetic resonance interactions of atomic xenon

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) of atomic (129/131)Xe is used as a versatile probe of the structure and dynamics of various host materials, due to the sensitivity of the Xe NMR parameters to intermolecular interactions. The principles governing this sensitivity can be investigated using the prototypic system of interacting Xe atoms. In the pairwise additive approximation (PAA), the binary NMR chemical shift, nuclear quadrupole coupling (NQC), and spin-rotation (SR) curves for the xenon dimer are utilized for fast and efficient evaluation of the corresponding NMR tensors in small xenon clusters Xe(n) (n = 2-12). If accurate, the preparametrized PAA enables the analysis of the NMR properties of xenon clusters, condensed xenon phases, and xenon gas without having to resort to electronic structure calculations of instantaneous configurations for n > 2. The binary parameters for Xe(2) at different internuclear distances were obtained at the nonrelativistic Hartree-Fock level of theory. Quantum-chemical (QC) calculations at the corresponding level were used to obtain the NMR parameters of the Xe(n) (n = 2-12) clusters at the equilibrium geometries. Comparison of PAA and QC data indicates that the direct use of the binary property curves of Xe(2) can be expected to be well-suited for the analysis of Xe NMR in the gaseous phase dominated by binary collisions. For use in condensed phases where many-body effects should be considered, effective binary property functions were fitted using the principal components of QC tensors from Xe(n) clusters. Particularly, the chemical shift in Xe(n) is strikingly well-described by the effective PAA. The coordination number Z of the Xe site is found to be the most important factor determining the chemical shift, with the largest shifts being found for high-symmetry sites with the largest Z. This is rationalized in terms of the density of virtual electronic states available for response to magnetic perturbations.

19F Single-Quantum and 19F−33S Heteronuclear Multiple-Quantum Coherence NMR of SF6 in Thermotropic Nematogens and in the Gas Phase

(19)F single-quantum (SQC) and (19)F-(33)S heteronuclear multiple-quantum coherence (HMQC) NMR spectroscopy of sulfur hexafluoride (SF(6)) dissolved in thermotropic liquid crystals (TLCs) were used to investigate the properties of TLCs. On one hand, environmental effects on the NMR parameters of SF(6), (19)F nuclear shielding, (19)F-(33)S spin-spin coupling, secondary isotope effects of sulfur on (19)F shielding, and the self-diffusion coefficient in the direction of the external magnetic field were studied as well. The temperature dependence of the (19)F shielding of SF(6) in TLCs was modeled with a function that takes into account the properties of both TLC and SF(6). It appears that the TLC environment deforms the electronic system of SF(6) so that the (19)F shielding tensor becomes slightly anisotropic, with the anisotropy being from -0.5 to -1.4 ppm, depending upon the TLC solvent. On the contrary, no sign of residual dipolar coupling between (19)F and (33)S was found, meaning that the so-called deformational effects, which arise from the interaction between vibrational and reorientational motions of the molecule, on the geometry of the molecule are insignificant. Diffusion activation energies, E(a), were determined from the temperature dependence of the self-diffusion coefficients. In each TLC, E(a) increases when moving from an isotropic phase to a nematic phase. The spin-spin coupling constant, J((19)F,(33)S), increases by ca. 10 Hz when moving from the gas phase to TLC solutions. The secondary isotope shifts of (19)F shielding are practically independent of TLC solvent and temperature. For the first time, (19)F-(33)S heteronuclear multiple-quantum NMR spectra were recorded for SF(6) in the gas phase and in a liquid-crystalline solution.