Nuclear spin conversion of water inside fullerene cages detected by low-temperature nuclear magnetic resonance

Mamone, Salvatore; Concistre, Maria; Carignani, Elisa; Meier, Benno; Krachmalnicoff, Andrea; Johannessen, Ole G.; Lei, Xuegong; Li, Yongjun; Denning, Mark; Carravetta, Marina; Goh, Kelvin; Horsewill, Anthony J.; Whitby, Richard J.; Levitt, Malcolm H.

Abstract

The water-endofullerene H2O@C60 provides a unique chemical system in which freely rotating water molecules are confined inside homogeneous and symmetrical carbon cages. The spin conversion between the ortho and para species of the endohedral H2O was studied in the solid phase by low-temperature nuclear magnetic resonance. The experimental data are consistent with a second-order kinetics, indicating a bimolecular spin conversion process. Numerical simulations suggest the simultaneous presence of a spin di?usion process allowing neighbouring ortho and para molecules to exchange their angular momenta. Cross-polarization experiments found no evidence that the spin conversion of the endohedral H2O molecules is catalysed by 13C nuclei present in the cages.

Citation

Mamone, S., Concistre, M., Carignani, E., Meier, B., Krachmalnicoff, A., Johannessen, O. G., …Levitt, M. H. (2014). Nuclear spin conversion of water inside fullerene cages detected by low-temperature nuclear magnetic resonance. Journal of Chemical Physics, 140(19), https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4873343

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: May 21, 2014
• Deposit Date: Jul 24, 2014
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 24, 2014
• Journal: Journal of Chemical Physics
• Print ISSN: 0021-9606
• Electronic ISSN: 0021-9606
• Publisher: American Institute of Physics
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 140
• Issue: 19
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4873343
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/728362
• Publisher URL: http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/jcp/140/19/10.1063/1.4873343
• Additional Information: © 2014 AIP Publishing LLC