Some types of information nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy of an atom can provide

Some types of information nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy of an atom can provide

You are familiar with the idea of NMR as a tool that provides chemical structure, i.e., identity of functional groups that constitute a particular molecule, including secondary and tertiary structure of large macromolecules of interest to biochemists, and also proximity parameters, e.g., which specific region on a protein a drug molecule binds to. In this talk we will provide examples of how NMR of an atom can provide very detailed information about adsorption and diffusion of an atom or molecule in porous media. For example, the adsorption isotherm is a physico-chemical property, but what are the details associated with it, such as, when there is a measured 5.2 molecules per pore for a given overhead pressure, we might have the notion that nearly every pore has 5; but actually what fraction of the pores have 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, ... even 8 molecules? In competitive adsorption of molecules A and B, what fraction of the pores have 3A and 1B? When atoms diffuse through a porous material, what is the rate constant for leaving a pore with 7 atoms and jumping into the next pore that has 3 atoms? How does this rate constant differ from jumping from a pore with 3 atoms into the next pore with 7? Can an atom in a nano-confined space provide signatures of the shape and symmetry of the confining space, and even differentiate between the original and a deuterated version of it? Can a Xe atom detect chirality in its environment? These are some of the questions we have answered using NMR of Xe atom.

Speaker: Cynthia Jameson, University of Chicago