Project in Surface Enhanced NMR Spectroscopy European Center for High-Field NMR in Lyon Institut des Sciences Analytiques –600 –700 Sn Chemical Shift (ppm) 119 –800 Developing Advanced Instrumentation and Experimental Methods for Surface Enhanced NMR Spectroscopy and Applications to Catalysis European Large Scale Facility For NMR World’s second 800 MHz DNP NMR spectrometer World Leaders in the Development of NMR Spectroscopy Project: The Achille’s heel of NMR spectroscopy is the low sensitivity of the method, which restricts its use to concentrated samples. Notably surfaces were previously inaccessible to NMR. Our group has recently shown that by transferring polarization from electrons to nuclei NMR signals from surfaces can be observed with high sensitivity, opening up an entirely new form of spectroscopy: Surface Enhanced NMR Spectroscopy (SENS). The aim of the project is to develop SENS to provide a robust tool for the characterization of surface species in complex samples, including heterogeneous catalysts. We will address the key fundamental issues preventing widespread use of SENS through either (i) experimental studies of catalytically relevant surfaces; (ii) developing new models and electron sources to optimize the electron-nuclear polarization transfer process in highly reactive catalytic systems; or (iii) developing new NMR experiments that control spin dynamics to provide higher surface signal enhancements. References: Wolf, P. et al, NMR Signatures of the Active Sites in Sn-Β Zeolite. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014, 53, 10179–10183. Rossini, A. J. et al, Dynamic Nuclear Polarization Surface Enhanced NMR Spectroscopy. Acc. Chem. Res. 2013, 46, 1942–1951. Samantaray, M. K.; et al. Evidence for Metal–Surface Interactions and Their Role in Stabilizing Well-Defined Immobilized Ru–NHC Alkene Metathesis Catalysts. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013, 135, 3193–3199. Supervisor and contact information Dr. Anne Lesage, Professor Lyndon Emsley Email: anne.lesage@ens-lyon.fr lyndon.emsley@ens-lyon.fr Website: http://www.ens-lyon.fr/crmn http://isa-lyon.fr Centre de RMN à Très Hauts Champs de Lyon Institut de Sciences Analytiques UMR 5280 CNRS / ENS Lyon / UCB Lyon 1 5 rue de la Doua, 69100 Villeurbanne, France