Unraveling the Mysteries of the Platinum Group Elements with 103Rh Solid-State NMR Spectroscopy

https://nationalmaglab.org/user-facilities/nmr-mri-s/research/nmr-science-highlights/solid-state-nmr-spectroscopy-on-rhodium/

Published April 17, 2024

Rhodium (Rh) is one of the most costly and scarce platinum group elements; however, it is of great importance in many technologies including catalytic converters, electronics, and medical devices. Here ultra-high magnetic field instruments and new NMR methodology at the MagLab unlocked access to perform 103Rh solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance, a technique that can study the molecular structures of Rh-containing materials.

What did scientists discover?
MagLab users have designed new techniques to acquire 103Rh solid-state NMR (ssNMR) spectra of a wide array of Rh containing materials to study their molecular structures – a feat previously thought to be nearly impossible.
Why is this important?

103Rh is very insensitive to NMR experiments, making 103Rh ssNMR spectra difficult to acquire. However, with new methods, MagLab users can now reliably acquire such spectra, which in combination with quantum mechanical calculations, give deep insights into molecular structure and chemical bonding, and provide unique spectral fingerprints for each Rh-containing material. These findings are valuable to many technologies including catalytic converters, electronics, and medical devices.

Who did the research?
Sean T. Holmes,1,2 Jasmin Schönzart,1,2 Adam B. Philips,3 James J. Kimball,1,2 Sara Termos,1,2 Adam R. Altenhof,1,2 Yijue Xu,2 Christopher A. O'Keefe,4 Jochen Autschbach,3,* and Robert W. Schurko1,2,*

1Florida State University; 2National MagLab; 3University at Buffalo; 4University of Windsor

Why did they need the MagLab?
The high fields of the 21.1T ultra-widebore NMR magnet and 36T Series Connected Hybrid magnets, in concert with our unique experimental probes, yield 103Rh NMR signals of unprecedented quality!

Details for scientists
View or download the expert-level Science Highlight, Unraveling the Mysteries of the Platinum Group Elements with 103Rh Solid-State NMR Spectroscopy
Read the full-length publication, Structure and bonding in rhodium coordination compounds: a 103Rh solid-state NMR and relativistic DFT study, in Chemical Science
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a little more at the link at top

They're currently working on a 40T (400,000 gauss) supercon magnet.

They need to rescale their plots to part per thousand -- the observed signals cover a range of up to 15,000 ppm!




*SIGH* So exasperating to be separated from active research -- I've been interested in relativistic ab initio compuchem since grad school (25 ya), and was introduced to DFT when it was a fairly new thing, but haven't been in a position to do research since a postdoc almost years ago.


ETA: I decided to check their home page because a tornado passed very close by the Tallahassee facility this morning. No notice on their home page yet re. any damage.