A low-cost strategy for 43Ca solid-state NMR spectroscopy

Abstract

Calcium-43 is a notoriously insensitive probe for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) due to its low natural abundance and small magnetic moment. Up until today, the few performed ⁴³Ca solid-state NMR studies used either highly expensive ⁴³Ca-enriched samples, or time consuming experiments on bulk natural abundance samples. We introduce the application of a magic-angle spinning coil (MACS) detector for a low-cost approach to ⁴³Ca NMR spectroscopy of solid materials with high detection sensitivity. We demonstrate 1D and 2D ⁴³Ca NMR spectra of a 1 mg ⁴³Ca-enriched sample. The sample cost is about 150 €. The effect of off-resonance MACS is also presented here.