Studies of organically functionalized mesoporous silicas using heteronuclear solid-state correlation NMR spectroscopy under fast magic angle spinning

Highly resolved solid-state HETCOR NMR spectra between protons and low gamma nuclei (C-13 and Si-29) can be suitably obtained on surfaces using a brute force H-1-H-1 decoupling by MAS at rates >= 40 kHz. Despite a small rotor volume (< 10 mu L), a H-1 C-13 HETCOR spectrum of allyl groups (AL, -CH2-CH=CH2) covalently anchored to the surface of MCM-41 silica was acquired without using isotope enrichment. The advantages of using fast MAS in such studies include easy setup, robustness, and the opportunity of using low RF power for decoupling. In the case of the H-1 -Si-29 HETCOR experiment, the sensitivity can be dramatically increased, in some samples by more than 1 order of magnitude, through implementing into the pulse sequence a Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill train of pi pulses at the Si-29 spin frequency. The use of low-power heteronuclear clecoupling is essential in the H-1-Si-29 CPMG-HETCOR experiment, due to unusually long acquisition periods. These methods provided detailed structural characterization of the surface of AL-MCM mesoporous silica.