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Structure of Amorphous Selenium by 2D 77 Se NMR Spectroscopy: An End to the Dilemma of Chain versus Ring
Author(s) -
Marple Maxwell,
Badger Jackson,
Hung Ivan,
Gan Zhehong,
Kovnir Kirill,
Sen Sabyasachi
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
angewandte chemie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1521-3757
pISSN - 0044-8249
DOI - 10.1002/ange.201704323
Subject(s) - amorphous solid , nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy , crystallography , ring (chemistry) , selenium , spectroscopy , solid state nuclear magnetic resonance , materials science , chemistry , nuclear magnetic resonance , stereochemistry , organic chemistry , physics , quantum mechanics
Amorphous selenium, owing to its tremendous technological importance and perhaps to its chemical simplicity, has been studied for nearly a century and yet an unequivocal structural description of this material remains lacking to date. The primary controversy regarding the structure of amorphous Se relates to the relative fraction of Se atoms residing in∞ 1 Sechains versus in Se 8 rings. Herein we present the results of a two‐dimensional solid‐state 77 Se nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopic study of the chain and ring crystalline allotropes of Se as well as of amorphous Se to unequivocally demonstrate that 1) the Se 8 rings and the∞ 1 Sechains are characterized by their unique 77 Se NMR signatures and 2) the structure of amorphous Se consists exclusively of∞ 1 Sechains.