| Institution: | 1. Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, ICR, Marseille, France;2. Scientific Computing Department, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, Didcot, UK;3. Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK;4. Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, Centrale Marseille, FSCM FR1739, Marseille, France;5. Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, ICR, Marseille, France
Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France;6. Department of Materials, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK |
| Abstract: | Structure determination of functional organic compounds remains a formidable challenge when the sample exists as a powder. Nuclear magnetic resonance crystallography approaches based on the comparison of experimental and Density Functional Theory (DFT)-computed 1H chemical shifts have already demonstrated great potential for structure determination of organic powders, but limitations still persist. In this study, we discuss the possibility of using 13C-13C dipolar couplings quantified on powdered theophylline at natural isotopic abundance with the help of dynamic nuclear polarization, to realize a DFT-free, rapid screening of a pool of structures predicted by ab initio random structure search. We show that although 13C-13C dipolar couplings can identify structures possessing long range structural motifs and unit cell parameters close to those of the true structure, it must be complemented with other data to recover information about the presence and the chemical nature of the supramolecular interactions. |
