NMR relaxation study of disorder in condensed matter: solid solutions of betaine phosphate and phosphite

Comprehensive solid-state NMR analysis reveals the effects of N-methylation on the molecular dynamics of glycine

Molecular dynamics of metabolites are important for their interactions and functions. To understand the structural dependence of molecular dynamics for N-methylated glycines, we comprehensively measured the (13)C and (1)H spin-lattice relaxation times for sarcosine, N,N-dimethylglycine, betaine, and betaine hydrochloride over a temperature range of 178-460 K. We found that the reorientations of methyl groups were observed for all these molecules, whereas reorientations of whole trimethylamine groups were detected in betaines. While similar rotational properties were observed for methyl groups in N,N-dimethylglycine and those in betaine, three methyl groups in betaine hydrochloride had different motional properties (E(a) ≈ 20.5 kJ/mol, τ(0) ≈ 1.85 × 10(-13) s; E(a) ≈ 13.9 kJ/mol, τ(0) ≈ 2.1 × 10(-12) s; E(a) ≈ 15.8 kJ/mol, τ(0) ≈ 1.1 × 10(-12) s). N,N-Dimethylglycine showed a phase transition at 348.5 K with changed relaxation behavior for methyl groups showing distinct E(a) and τ(0) values. The DIPSHIFT experiments showed that CH(3) and CH(2) moieties in these molecules had dipolar-dephasing curves similar to these moieties in alanine and glycine. The activation energies for CH(3) rotations positively correlated with the number of substituted methyl groups. These findings provided useful information for the structural dependence of molecular dynamics for N-methylated glycines and demonstrated solid-state NMR as a useful tool for probing the structure-dynamics relationships.

Disorder in condensed matter systems: proton spin lattice relaxation study of the mixed systems of betaine phosphate and glycine phosphite, BPxGPI(1-x)

Proton NMR relaxation measurements have been carried out in the mixed system of antiferroelectric (AFE) betaine phosphate (BP) and ferroelectric (FE) glycine phosphite (GPI), BPxGPI(1-x), at 11.4 and 23.3 MHz from 300 to 100 K for x=0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7 and 0.8. The temperature dependence of spin lattice relaxation (SLR) time follows the BPP model in the parent compounds, while the Larmor frequency dependence of T1 in the mixed system is rather unusual. The T1 curve exhibits different slopes for the low-temperature wings at the two frequencies, which is a clear experimental evidence of the presence of different methyl groups with different activation energies (Ea), indicating disorder. For x=0.3 and 0.4, biexponential recovery of magnetization has been observed below 190 K, showing that the degree of disorder varies with the concentration. The temperature dependence of relaxation time data has been interpreted in terms of NH3, trimethyl ammonium and methyl group reorientations.