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Gradišek A, Apih T, Beira MJ, Cruz C, Fernandes SN, Godinho HM, Sebastião PJ. Observing short-range orientational order in small-molecule liquids. Sci Rep 2022; 12:22500. [PMID: 36577850 PMCID: PMC9797480 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-27187-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2022] [Accepted: 12/27/2022] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Local molecular ordering in liquids has attracted a lot of interest from researchers investigating crystallization, but is still poorly understood on the molecular scale. Classical nucleation theory (CNT), a macroscopic thermodynamic description of condensation, has shortcomings when dealing with clusters consisting of tens of molecules. Cluster formation and local order fluctuations in liquid media are difficult to study due to the limited spatial resolution of electron- and photon-imaging methods. We used NMR relaxometry to demonstrate the existence of dynamic clusters with short-range orientational order in nominally isotropic liquids consisting of elongated molecules. We observed clusters in liquids where the local ordering is driven by polar, steric, and hydrogen-bond interactions between the molecules. In the case of a liquid crystal, measuring the local orientational order fluctuations allowed us to observe the size of these clusters diverging when approaching the phase transition from the isotropic to the nematic phase. These fluctuations are described in terms of rotational elasticity as a consequence of the correlated reorientations of the neighbouring molecules. Our quantitative observations of the dynamic clusters in liquids, numbering about ten or fewer molecules, indicate that this is a general phenomenon in various types of liquids.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anton Gradišek
- grid.11375.310000 0001 0706 0012Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova Cesta 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Tomaž Apih
- grid.11375.310000 0001 0706 0012Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova Cesta 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Maria J. Beira
- grid.9983.b0000 0001 2181 4263Center of Physics and Engineering of Advanced Materials, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal ,grid.9983.b0000 0001 2181 4263Department of Physics, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Carlos Cruz
- grid.9983.b0000 0001 2181 4263Center of Physics and Engineering of Advanced Materials, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal ,grid.9983.b0000 0001 2181 4263Department of Physics, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Susete N. Fernandes
- grid.10772.330000000121511713CENIMAT/I3N, Departamento de Ciência Dos Materiais, Faculdade de Ciências E Tecnologia, UNL, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal
| | - Helena M. Godinho
- grid.10772.330000000121511713CENIMAT/I3N, Departamento de Ciência Dos Materiais, Faculdade de Ciências E Tecnologia, UNL, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal
| | - Pedro J. Sebastião
- grid.9983.b0000 0001 2181 4263Center of Physics and Engineering of Advanced Materials, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal ,grid.9983.b0000 0001 2181 4263Department of Physics, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal
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Uguz SS, Ozvural EB, Beira MJ, Oztop MH, Sebastião PJ. Use of NMR Relaxometry to identify frankfurters of different meat sources. Mol Phys 2018. [DOI: 10.1080/00268976.2018.1542162] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Sirvan Sultan Uguz
- Department of Food Engineering, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey
| | - E. Burcin Ozvural
- Department of Food Engineering, Cankiri Karatekin University, Cankiri, Turkey
| | - Maria Jardim Beira
- CeFEMA – Center of Physics and Engineering of Advanced Materials and Department of Physics, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Mecit Halil Oztop
- Department of Food Engineering, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey
| | - Pedro José Sebastião
- CeFEMA – Center of Physics and Engineering of Advanced Materials and Department of Physics, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
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Gradišek A, Domenici V, Apih T, Novotná V, Sebastião PJ. 1H NMR Relaxometric Study of Molecular Dynamics in a “de Vries” Liquid Crystal. J Phys Chem B 2016; 120:4706-14. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.6b02224] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Anton Gradišek
- Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova
39, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Valentina Domenici
- Dipartimento di Chimica e Chimica Industriale, via Moruzzi 13, 56124 Pisa, Italy
| | - Tomaž Apih
- Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova
39, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Vladimíra Novotná
- Institute
of Physics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Na Slovance
2, 182 21 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Pedro J. Sebastião
- Center
of Physics and Engineering of Advanced Materials, Instituto Superior
Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal
- Department
of Physics, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal
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Fries PH, Belorizky E. Simple expressions of the nuclear relaxation rate enhancement due to quadrupole nuclei in slowly tumbling molecules. J Chem Phys 2015; 143:044202. [PMID: 26233122 DOI: 10.1063/1.4926827] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
For slowly tumbling entities or quasi-rigid lattices, we derive very simple analytical expressions of the quadrupole relaxation enhancement (QRE) of the longitudinal relaxation rate R1 of nuclear spins I due to their intramolecular magnetic dipolar coupling with quadrupole nuclei of arbitrary spins S ≥ 1. These expressions are obtained by using the adiabatic approximation for evaluating the time evolution operator of the quantum states of the quadrupole nuclei S. They are valid when the gyromagnetic ratio of the spin S is much smaller than that of the spin I. The theory predicts quadrupole resonant peaks in the dispersion curve of R1 vs magnetic field. The number, positions, relative intensities, Lorentzian shapes, and widths of these peaks are explained in terms of the following properties: the magnitude of the quadrupole Hamiltonian and the asymmetry parameter of the electric field gradient (EFG) acting on the spin S, the S-I inter-spin orientation with respect to the EFG principal axes, the rotational correlation time of the entity carrying the S-I pair, and/or the proper relaxation time of the spin S. The theory is first applied to protein amide protons undergoing dipolar coupling with fast-relaxing quadrupole (14)N nuclei and mediating the QRE to the observed bulk water protons. The theoretical QRE agrees well with its experimental counterpart for various systems such as bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor and cartilages. The anomalous behaviour of the relaxation rate of protons in synthetic aluminium silicate imogolite nano-tubes due to the QRE of (27)Al (S = 5/2) nuclei is also explained.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pascal H Fries
- Université Grenoble Alpes, INAC-SCIB, RICC, F-38000 Grenoble, France
| | - Elie Belorizky
- Université Grenoble Alpes, LIPHY, F-38000 Grenoble, France
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Rachocki A, Andrzejewska E, Dembna A, Tritt-Goc J. Translational dynamics of ionic liquid imidazolium cations at solid/liquid interface in gel polymer electrolyte. Eur Polym J 2015. [DOI: 10.1016/j.eurpolymj.2015.08.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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