Cage effect, definition

Not surprisingly, bifunctional species preceded the definition of the term distonic, both in the gas and condensed phases. For example, Hammond et al. studied the cage effect for radical pairs generated by decomposition of azo compounds. Among their targets was the doubly protonated amidine (27), whose decomposition yielded a pair of distonic radical cations (28 +).Attachment of the spin-bearing carbon in the 2-position of the diazaallyl function ensures minimal delocalization of unpaired spin into the latter. 

It is also of interest to use MAS NMR for the study of the thermal treatment of zeolites which are not in the ammonium-exchanged form. In an X-ray study, Pluth and Smith (179) found electron density at the center of the sodalite cages in dehydrated zeolites Ca-A and Sr-A and attributed this to a partial occupancy of these sites by a four-coordinated aluminous species. No such effect was found in zeolite A exchanged with monovalent cations. Corbin et al. (180) used 27A1 MAS NMR to examine commercial samples of K-A, Na-A and (Ca,Na)-A, as received (see Fig. 41). For K-A and Na-A, only framework tetrahedral Al species were observed, with chemical shifts of 57 and 52 ppm respectively. However, in (Ca,Na)-A an additional intense resonance at 78 ppm, typical of AlfOH) but definitely not due to framework aluminum, was also found (see Fig. 41). A much weaker signal, also at 78 ppm, was detected in zeolite Sr-A its intensity increased greatly on heating the sample to 550°C. Freude et al. (183) came to very similar conclusions in their NMR study of heat-treated zeolite Ca-A. They found that maximum framework dealumination occurs at 500°C and corresponds to ac. 17% of total Al. 

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