Structure determination of a partially ordered layered silicate material with an NMR crystallography approach

Structure determination of layered materials can present challenges for conventional diffraction methods due to the fact that such materials often lack full three-dimensional periodicity since adjacent layers may not stack in an orderly and regular fashion. In such cases, NMR crystallography strategies involving a combination of solid-state NMR spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction, and computational chemistry methods can often reveal structural details that cannot be acquired from diffraction alone. We present here the structure determination of a surfactant-templated layered silicate material that lacks full three-dimensional crystallinity using such an NMR crystallography approach. Through a combination of powder X-ray diffraction and advanced ²⁹Si solid-state NMR spectroscopy, it is revealed that the structure of the silicate layer of this layered silicate material templated with cetyltrimethylammonium surfactant cations is isostructural with the silicate layer of a previously reported material referred to as ilerite, octosilicate, or RUB-18. High-field ¹H NMR spectroscopy reveals differences between the materials in terms of the ordering of silanol groups on the surfaces of the layers, as well as the contents of the inter-layer space.