Distance measurements between carbon and bromine using a split-pulse PM-RESPDOR solid-state NMR experiment

Solid-state NMR have been long used to probe atomic distances between nearby nuclear spins by virtue of the dipolar interaction. New technological advances have enabled simultaneous tuning of the radio-frequency resonance circuits to nuclei with close Larmor frequencies, bringing a great promise also to distance measurements between such nuclei, in particular for nuclei with a spin larger than one-half. However, this new possibility has also required modifications of those experiments since the two nuclei cannot be irradiated simultaneously. When measuring distances between a spin S=1/2 and a quadrupolar spin (S > 1/2), this drawback can be overcome by splitting the continuous-wave recoupling pulse applied to the quadrupolar nucleus. We show here that a similar adjustment to a highly-efficient phase-modulated (PM) recoupling pulse enables distance measurements between nuclei with close Larmor frequencies, where the coupled spin experiences a very large coupling. Such an experiment, split phase-modulated RESPDOR, is demonstrated on a 13C-81Br system, where the difference in Larmor frequencies is only 7%, or 11.2 MHz on a 14.1T magnet. The inter-nuclear distances are extracted using an unscaled analytical formula. Since bromine usually experiences particularly high quadrupolar couplings, as in the current case, we suggest that the split-PM-RESPDOR experiment can be highly beneficial for the research of bromo-compounds, including many pharmaceuticals, where carbon-bromine bonds are prevalent, and organo-catalysts utilizing the high reactivity of bromides. We show that for butyl triphenylphosphonium bromide, distances are in agreement with a low-hydration compound rather than a semi-clathrate form. The split-PM-RESPDOR experiment is suitable for distance measurement between any quadrupolar/spin-1/2 pairs, in particular when the quadrupolar spin experiences a significantly large coupling.