The local information provided by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) makes it an ideal method for the structural investigations of materials lacking extended long-range ordering. This work focuses on investigations of two types of materials possessing very different types of disorder. The first section involves investigations of alkali borate glasses and the application of solid-state NMR techniques to probe short- and medium-range ordering in such glasses. Differences between the various alkali borates over a wide compositional range are probed using one and two-dimensional techniques. The use of double-resonance dipolar recoupling techniques to investigate cesium-boron distances is investigated. The second section probes a series of transition-metal cyanide coordination polymers. The bidentate nature of the cyanide ligand allows for the possibility of forming numerous isomers. Information about the isomer(s) present is gained via the various NMR parameters available, such as the chemical shifts, shift anisotropies and J-couplings. This is then extended to the characterization of paramagnetic transition-metal cyanides, where strong electron-nuclear interactions are shown to significantly increase spin-lattice relaxation rates allowing the acquisition of spectra without the need of typically employed enhancement techniques, yet often yielding spectra of better quality. Variable-temperature experiments allow a measure of the electron-nuclear interaction, which can be related to spatial proximity, and provide “diamagnetic” chemical shifts allowing comparison with other cyanides. J-couplings and chemical shift anisotropies are shown to be applicable in much the same fashion as with diamagnetic systems.

The results of a solid-state 11B NMR study of a series of boronic acids, boronic esters, and boronic acid catechol cyclic esters with aromatic substituents are reported in this thesis. Boron-11 electric field gradient (EFG) and chemical shift (CS) tensors obtained from analyses of spectra acquired in magnetic fields of 9.4 T and 21.1 T are demonstrated to be useful for gaining insight into the molecular and electronic structure about the boron nucleus. It can be concluded that when adequate electronic variation is present in the compounds being studied, Ω is generally the most characteristic boron NMR parameter of the molecular and electronic environment for boronic acids and esters. Importantly, these data are only reliably accessible in ultrahigh magnetic fields. The experimental span values result from a delicate interplay of several competing factors, including hydrogen bonding, the value of the dihedral angle, and the type of aromatic ring system present.

No description available.

Geopolymers are a relatively new class of material that has many broad applications, including use as a substitute for Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC), use in soil stabilisation, fire resistant panels, refractory cements, and inorganic adhesives. The synthetic alkali aluminosilicate structure of geopolymer results in a highly versatile material that can be synthesised en masse, cost competitively and from a wide varietyof aluminosilicate bearing raw materials. / Despite the commercial promise and technical viability of the technology, the fundamental understanding of the chemical structure and characteristics of geopolymeric materials, and to some degree the academic rigor of some aspects of the science related to geopolymers, leave a lot to be desired. In particular, the understanding of the effects of Si/Al ratio and alkali cation type on the molecular structure of the binder, and how these relate to the microstructure and mechanical and thermal properties are poorly understood. / The thesis explores the structure and characteristics of a systematic multi-dimensional matrix of geopolymers derived from metakaolin, a relatively pure aluminosilicate source. The thesis addresses the determination of the core molecular structure of geopolymers by solid-state NMR spectroscopy, and how this is altered by the nominal Si/Al ratio and alkali cation type. The chemical ordering is observed to reduce with Si/Al ratio and with inclusion of potassium over sodium. Most significantly, the presence of Al-O-Al linkages is identified for the first time in specimens with Si/Al ratios close to unity, by the application of 17O NMR techniques on geopolymers. The role of molecular structure and gel chemistry of geopolymers is elucidated, and links are drawn to understand the development of the microstructure and physical properties of the material. The thermal evolution of geopolymeric gels derived from metakaolin is investigated in terms of physical and structural development when exposed to temperatures up to 1000°C. The response of geopolymers to heating is characterised into four regions regardless of the extent of shrinkage or crystallisation. Several critical material performance relationships exist that are related to both the microstructure and chemical composition. / The thesis presents an updated structural model of geopolymers to include new insights obtained from application of solid-state NMR techniques and thermal analysis. The improvements in structural understanding described in the thesis have the potential to affect all aspects of geopolymer science.

This research project compares different chemical and spectroscopic techniques aimed at finding a quick and cheap replacement for the measurement of digestibility of phosphorus (P) in different inorganic feed additives for pigs. This research yielded a comparison of the digestibility of different feed additives. P digestibility was determined from in vivo studies of pigs. The animal feed in the in vivo studies contained P levels below the nutrient requirements. The basal diet was a corn soybean meal base. Assessment was performed on 6 different inorganic P sources, rock phosphate (tricalcium phosphate (TCP)), meat and bone meal (MBM), mono/dicalcium phosphate (MDCP) and three different dicalcium phosphates (DCPs). Eight pigs where selected and placed into separate pens. Two were given basal diets and the other 6 diets were randomly selected and supplied with the different inorganic P sources. P digestibility was calculated by difference. The apparent P digestibility of the sources were: TCP at 46 %, the MBM at 85 %, MDCP at 71 % and three DCPs ranged from 49 % to 73 %. This substantiated that the apparent P digestibility in the major inorganic sources of P is significantly less than 100%. The in vitro or chemical methods of assessing phosphorus availability in animal feed included the commonly used feed extraction methods of water solubility and 2 % citric acid. These two methods showed significant differences between each other. Other chemical methods used included calcium chloride, ammonium acetate, sodium bicarbonate extractions, and a double extraction using hydrochloric acid (HCl) followed by sodium bicarbonate. The chemical methods showed non-significant correlation coefficients when compared to in vivo P digestibility of the six phosphate ingredients used. Infra-red spectroscopy is now commonly used in feed production for many other nutritional tests. NIR, although being able to obtain an R2 above 0.999 for correlation curves and factor prediction curves, could not obtain a self prediction of the calcium phosphates due to the large Mahalanobis Distance. P digestibility predicted by MIR showed close agreement with the in vivo P digestibility. Again due to the small number of ingredients tested in the pig trial, the prediction of digestibility using MIR could only be compared to it self. Hence MIR can only be used as an estimate until more data can be obtained. The P31 SS-MAS-NMR indicated one of the DCPs was made up of 3 or more P compounds by displaying 3 major peaks. All the P chemical shifts from the faeces had different positions to the P peaks in the ingredients, indicating some sort of change in the P form. Overall the chemical methods were unable to predict P digestibility, and while the spectroscopic techniques showed promise, they still require more work to examine many more feed additives.Invitro, invivo, phosphorus, digestibility, swine, infra-red spectroscopy, solid state NMR

Chalcogen-containing materials are an area of increasing interest for spintronic applications. The synthesis, structures and reactivity of these novel compounds are normally studied by solution-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, density functional theory (DFT) calculations and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. In this thesis, a range of chalcogen-containing heterocycles has been explored, focussing on the solid-state nature and exploring the bulk samples. Therefore, all materials were studied by powder X-ray diffraction and solid-state NMR, in addition to conventional solution-state NMR and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. DFT calculations were also used to interpret the solid-state NMR spectra and to gain insight into the NMR parameters. In the first chapter of results, a series of mixed Te, Se acenaphthenes is investigated. 77Se and 125Te NMR parameters are explored to determine whether changes in the Te aryl-group have an impact on the local environments of both nuclei. Dynamics and the requirement to consider relativistic effects for calculations of NMR parameters of heavy atoms is discussed. In the second results chapter, a series of novel P-S and P-Se six-membered heterocycles are described in terms of their synthesis, reactivity, and 31P and 77Se local environments. We observed and measured some unusual “through-space” couplings that occur between molecules and which mechanism and pathways are supported by DFT calculations. In the third results chapter, these heterocycles are oxidised with O, S and Se and the NMR parameters are discussed in terms of the structure. Polymorphism, phase transitions and weak interactions are some of the phenomena present in these novel compounds. This thesis demonstrated that solid-state NMR is a very good probe to study Se- and Te-containing materials.

Compostos intercalados de lítio sac considerados materiais apropriados para eletrodos de baterias recarregáveis de lítio. O conhecimento das taxas de difusão, assim como os mecanismos relacionados com a mobilidade dos íons nos espaços interlaminares são portanto pertinentes para a caracterização das propriedades deste tipo de compostos. Investigações por ressonância magnética nuclear tem um papel ativo no estudo do comportamento dinâmico e estrutural destes compostos de lítio sólidos. Por essa razão este trabalho e baseado nos espectros de RMN obtidos entre 150K e 400K em um campo de 2T. As larguras de linha do 1H e do Li+ foram medidas a partir da transformada de Fourier dos FIDs resultantes da excitação da amostra por um pulse &#960/2. O desacoplamento de 1H foi utilizado, quando necessário, para excluir a contribuição dipolar magnética a destes núcleos a largura de linha do 7Li. Os tempos de relaxação spin-rede para os núcleos 7Li e 1H foram obtidos utilizando-se o método de inversão-recuperação. A partir destas medidas, diversos parâmetros dinâmicos e estruturais destes compostos foram encontrados como: energias de ativação, tempos de correlação e coeficientes de difusão dos íons lítio. / Lithium intercalation compounds are considered suitable materials for electrodes in rechargeable lithium batteries. The knowledge of diffusion rates as well as of mechanistic features related with the mobility of ions in the interlamellar spaces is therefore relevant for the regulation of the properties of this kind of compounds. Nuclear magnetic resonance investigations have played an active role in the study of the dynamic and structural behavior of these solid lithium compounds. For this reason this work is based on NMR spectra recorded between 150K and 400K at 2T. The 1H and Li+ linewidths were measured from the Fourier transform of the FIDs following a &#960/2 excitation. IH decoupling was used, when necessary, to exclude the magnetic dipolar contribution of this nucleus to the 7Li linewidth. The 7Li and 1H spin-lattice relaxation time T1 were measured using the inversion-recovery method. Several dynamic and structural NMR parameters were obtained from these NMR measurements like activation energies, correlation times and diffusion coefficients.

Esta tese baseia-se no estudo da dinâmica e conformação de polímeros no estado sólido utilizando-se técnicas modernas de RMN. Para o estudo quantitativo da dinâmica molecular lenta dos grupos laterais em uma série de poli (alqui1 metacrilato)s que apresentam diferentes tamanhos para os seus grupos laterais foram utilizadas duas novas técnicas de exchange: centerband-only detection of exchange (CODEX) e pure exchange (PUREX). Rotações dos grupos ésteres de 180&#176 flip) acopladas a movimentos de pequenos ângulos em torno da cadeia principal (&#60 20&#176), que são associados a relaxação &#946 nestes polímeros, são observados distintamente. As porcentagens de grupos laterais que realizam os movimentos de flip foram obtidas com 3% de precisão. Esses valores decrescem com o tamanho do grupo lateral, indo de 34% (PMMA) até cerca de 10% (PcHMA) à temperatura ambiente. No PMAA nenhum movimento lento dos grupos laterais é detectado. A fração de grupos laterais que realizam o flip se mantém constante com o aumento da temperatura para o PMMA até próximo da sua transição vítrea (Tg), enquanto que para o PEMA, o PiBMA e o PcHMA essa fração aumenta continuamente até próximo da Tg (de 31% para 80% para o PEMA). Movimentos independentes de pequena amplitude (&#60 5&#176) que cooperam para a acomodação dos grupos laterais durante o flip das cadeias vizinhas também foram verificados. O monitoramento do sinal atribuído ao grupo CH2 através da técnica CODEX confirma os resultados obtidos para o movimento da cadeia principal. Além disso, observa-se em alguns poli(acri1atos &#945-substituídos) que o tamanho dos grupos laterais a também têm influência na fração dos grupos ésteres que sofrem reorientação a 25&#176C . Para o estudo da conformação de polímeros foram implementados experimentos Double Quantum, que determinam ângulos de torção entre pares 13C-13C na cadeia polimérica. Foram realizados experimentos para dois polímeros, poli(óxido etileno) - (POE) e poli(eti1eno teraftalato) - (PET), enriquecidos em 13C com e sem desacoplamento homonuclear (13C-13C) em um espectrômetro Variam Inova 400. / This work is based on the study of dynamics and conformation of solid-state polymers, using NMR modern techniques. For the quantitative study of slow sidegroup dynamics in a series of poly(alkyl methacrylate)s and other of poly(&#945-substituted acrylate)s with varying sidegroup sizes two new 13C exchange techniques were used: centerband-only detection of exchange (CODEX) and pure exchange (PUREX). Flips and small-angle motions of the ester groups associated with the p-relaxation are observed distinctly, and the fraction of slowly flipping groups has been measured with 3% precision. A decreasing in these values occurs growing the sidegroup size. In PMMA, 34% of sidegroups flip, while the fraction is c.a. 10% in PcHMA around room temperature. In PMAA, no slow sidegroup flips are detected. In PMMA, the flipping fraction is temperature-independent between 25&#176C and 96&#176C, while in PEMA, PiBMA, and PcHMA it increases continuously between room temperature and Tg (from 31 to 80% for PEMA). Backbone CH2 CODEX data confirm the results obtained for the main chain movements. Flip-independent small amplitude motions (&#60 5&#176) are also observed. Besides, it is noticed that in some poly(&#945 -substituted acrylate)s the a sidegroup size has influence in the fraction of slowly flipping ester groups at 25&#176C. For the study of polymers conformation Double Quantum NMR experiments were used, for torsion angles determination between 13C-13C pairs through the polymer chain. Experiments for two standards 13C labeled samples: poly(ethy1ene oxide) - (PEO) and poly(ethy1ene teraftalate) - (PET) were performed, with and without homonuclear decoupling (13C-13C), in a Varian Inova 400 spectrometer.

O objetivo deste trabalho consiste na caracterização do polímero PolyParaPhenylene (PPP) dopado com FeCl3, usando a técnica de Espectroscopia de Alta Resolução em Sólidos por Ressonância Magnética Nuclear. Os espectros de alta resolução de 13C foram obtidos usando, simultaneamente, as técnicas de desacoplamento em alta potencia (DEC) e rotação da amostra em torno do angulo mágico (MASS). Alterações nos espectros de 13C do PPP dopado com FeCl3 causadas por defeitos na cadeia polimérica, tal como polarons e bipolarons, foram analisadas. Efeitos de variação de temperatura e purificação sobre os espectros do PPP, também foram estudados. As amostras foram, adicionalmente, caracterizadas por outras técnicas espectroscópicas, tal como Ressonância Paramagnética Eletrônica (EPR), Efeito Mossbauer, Infra Vermelho e Absorção Atômica; bem como por medidas de Condutividade. Nos observamos que as alterações nas larguras de linha de RMN, estão relacionadas com o aparecimento de bipolarons na cadeia polimérica. / The objective of this work consist of the characterization of FeCl3 doped PolyParaPhenylene (PPP) polymer, using Solid State High Resolution Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy. The 13C high resolution spectra were obtained simultaneously using High Power Decoupling (DEC) and Magic Angle Sample Spinning (MASS) techniques. Alterations in the high resolution 13C spectra of FeCl3 doped PPP caused by defects in the polymer chain such as polarons and bipolarons were analyzed. Effect of temperature variation and purification upon the PPP spectra was also studied. The samples were additionally characterized by others spectroscopic techniques such as Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR), Mossbauer Effect, Infrared and Atomic Absorption as well as by conductivity measurements. We observed that the NMR linewidth changes are related to appearance of the bipolaron in the polymeric chain

Les protéines prions sont associées à une classe de maladies neurodégénératives, dont l'encéphalopathie spongiforme transmissible (EST) est la mieux connue. La protéine prion Sup35p représente un tel modèle car elle est non associée à une maladie. Sup35p se compose de trois domaines : un domaine N-terminal qui est responsable de la formation de prion, d'un domaine de milieu (M) qui affiche un degré élevé de flexibilité, et un domaine C-terminal fonctionnel et globulaire. Le fragment Sup35pNM est souvent utilisé comme modèle pour documenter l'assemblage et les propriétés infectieuses de Sup35p. Les études de Sup35p et Sup35pNM par RMN du solide ont révélé d'étonnantes différences structurelles entre les deux cœurs amyloïdes de Sup35p et Sup35pNM. Nos résultats sur Sup35p apportent un nouvel éclairage sur le monde étonnamment diversifié des prions où la variabilité conformationnelle joue un rôle énorme et perturbant. Ils reflètent l'image émergente que les prions sont des unités structurelles complexes. En effet, même s'il affiche une structure très définie, un domaine donné peut adopter des conformations différentes selon les circonstances (en isolation, dans le contexte d'un fragment ou la protéine entière) ou de l'environnement (conditions de tampon, présence de chaperonnes). Nos résultats donnent une explication au niveau moléculaire pour la contractante propension à l'assemblage et l'infectiosité de Sup35pNM et Sup35p, et soulignent l'importance primordiale d'une caractérisation structurale au niveau moléculaire des agrégats utilisés dans des études fonctionnelles / Prion proteins are associated with a class of neurodegenerative diseases, including transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) which is the best known. The prion protein Sup35p displays a model system because it is not associated with disease. Sup35p consists of three domains: an N-terminal domain which is responsible for the prion formation, a middle domain (M) that displays a high degree of flexibility, and a functional C-terminal domain. Sup35pNM the fragment is often used as a model to document for the assembly and infectious properties of Sup35p. Solid-state NMR studies of Sup35p and Sup35pNM fibrils showed amazing structural differences between the two amyloid cores. Our results shed new light on the surprisingly diverse world of prions where conformational variability plays a huge role. They reflect the emerging picture that prions are complex structural units. Even if it displays a very defined structure, a given field may adopt different conformations depending on the circumstances (in isolation, in the context of the whole protein or fragment) or the environment (buffer conditions, presence of chaperones). Our results provide an explanation at the molecular level for the contrasting propensity assembly and infectivity Sup35pNM and Sup35p, and emphasize the central importance of a structural characterization at the molecular level