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Updated: Oct 4, 2026

Atomic Scale Structural Studies of Macromolecular Assemblies by Solid-state Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
Published on: September 17, 2017
Solid-state 2H MAS NMR studies of TNT absorption in soil and clays
E F Emery1, T Junk, R E Ferrell
1Department of Chemistry and Department of Geology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, USA.
Abstract:
The binding of TNT to a soil and soil components is studied with 2H MAS NMR. This NMR technique clearly shows different interactions for deuterated TNT with soil, quartz, and clays. Basically, this NMR method relies on the well-defined 2H MAS NMR characteristics of a deuterated methyl group attached to an aromatic ring. Stationary rings and rings executing 2- or 3-fold jump motions all yield different NMR spectra. The technique has good sensitivity; these studies were conducted at a TNT loading of 22 mmol/kg. For the soil sample studied, TNT showed binding similar to a TNT/K10-montmorillonite sample.
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