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Updated: Jun 26, 2025

Spin Saturation Transfer Difference NMR SSTD NMR: A New Tool to Obtain Kinetic Parameters of Chemical Exchange Processes
Published on: November 12, 2016
Quantum interference in atom-exchange reactions
Yi-Xiang Liu1,2, Lingbang Zhu1,2, Jeshurun Luke1,2
1Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
Abstract:
Chemical reactions, in which bonds break and form, are highly dynamic quantum processes. A fundamental question is whether coherence can be preserved in chemical reactions and then harnessed to generate entangled products. Here we investigated this question by studying the 2KRb [Formula: see text][Formula: see text] + Rb2 reaction at 500 nanokelvins, focusing on the nuclear spin degrees of freedom. We prepared the initial nuclear spins in KRb (potassium-rubidium) in an entangled state by lowering the magnetic field to where the spin-spin interaction dominates and characterized the preserved coherence in nuclear spin wave function after the reaction. We observed an interference pattern that is consistent with full coherence at the end of the reaction, suggesting that entanglement prepared within the reactants could be redistributed through the atom-exchange process.
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