Zero-Field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

Abstract

In polycrystalline samples, NMR "powder spectra" are broad and much structural information is lost as a result of the orientational disorder. In this Letter Fourier-transform NMR in zero magnetic field is described. With no preferred direction in space, all crystallites contribute equivalently and resolved dipolar splittings can be interpreted directly in terms of internuclear distances. This opens the possiblity of molecular structure determination without the need for single crystals or oriented samples.