Quadrupolar interaction dominates central transition

Under anisotropic conditions, NMR lineshapes for a quadrupolar nucleus are dominated by chemical shielding and (first and second order) quadrupolar interactions. Dipolar interaction is usually a minor contribution only. First-order quadrupole interaction lifts the degeneracy of the allowed 21 (i.e. seven in the case of V / = V2) Zeeman transitions as shown in Figure 3.7, giving rise to seven equidistant lines, viz. a central line (mj = + V2 -V2. unaffected by quadrupole interaction) and six satellite lines. The overall breadth of the spectrum is determined by the size of the nuclear quadrupole coupling constant Cq the deviations from axial symmetry and hence the shape of the spectral envelope are governed by the asymmetry parameter. Static solid-state NMR thus provides additional parameters, in particular the quadrupole coupling constant, which correlates with the electronic situation in a vanadium compound. [ 1 The central component reflects the anisotropy of the chemical shift. 

The quadrupolar-echo experiment represents the most widely used experiment for the observation of quadrupolar nuclei.For half-integer nuelei, it may be tuned to observe only the central transition (1/2-1/2), which is perturbed by the quadrupolar interaction only to second order, thus allowing the observation of less dominant anisotropic interactions. A significant improvement in sensitivity can be obtained by ncorporating a spin-echo method such as the Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill sequence into the detection period. " The powder line-shape splits into a manifold of sidebands, from which information on the homogeneous and inhomogeneous interactions can be extracted from the line-shape of the sidebands and their envelope, respectively. 

When the observed nucleus is itself quadrupolar. Here the quadrupole interaction is dominant, the others being usually very minor in comparison. Normal MAS speeds are much smaller than typical quadrupole couplings (which lie in the MHz range), producing an enormous number of sidebands, except in the case of the central transition of half-integer spins. In this latter case distinctive line broadening effects appear which cannot be completely removed by MAS. Methods to overcome these difficulties will be reviewed. 

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