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Published on: February 12, 2019
Observation of Transient Prenucleation Species of Calcium Carbonate by DNP-Enhanced NMR
Martins Balodis1, Yu Rao1, Gabriele Stevanato1
1Institut des Sciences et Ingénierie Chimiques, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
Abstract:
Knowledge of the mechanism by which polymorphic inorganic species, such as carbonates, are formed is crucial to understand and guide the selective crystallization of end products. Recently it has been shown that a key step in the crystallization of calcium carbonate is the formation of intermediate species known as prenucleation clusters. However, the observation of these prenucleation clusters in solution is exceedingly challenging because of their short lifetime and low concentrations. Here, using dissolution DNP-enhanced NMR spectroscopy, we observe signals from prenucleation species of calcium carbonate from which the kinetics of formation and conversion are determined.
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