Time-Optimized ¹⁵N qNMR Determination of Lewis and Brønsted Site Concentrations and Chemical Bonding of Pyridine at Brønsted Sites in Amorphous Aluminum Hydroxide Fluoride

Abstract

Time-optimized 15N quantitative NMR (qNMR) is described for the precise determination of Lewis and Brønsted site concentrations per gram catalyst, enabling a measurement time reduction of more than a factor of 10. The proof-of-principle is demonstrated for amorphous aluminum hydroxide fluorides with their tunable Lewis to Brønsted functionalities and relevance to highly active and selective heterogeneous catalysis using pyridine as a widely accepted probe molecule for Lewis and Brønsted sites. Two different Lewis centers were found, and reliable site concentrations down to the micromole per gram region can be determined. Furthermore, 1H{15N} REDOR NMR for the acid proton at the Brønsted site yields a distance of the 15N atom of bonded pyridine to this acid proton of (0.112 ± 0.002) nm, such that fast motion/diffusion of the Brønsted site-bonded pyridine at the surface can be excluded.