Issue 25, 2011

Boron environments in Pyrex® glass—a high resolution, Double-Rotation NMR and thermodynamic modelling study

Abstract

It is shown, using the important technological glass Pyrex® as an example, that 1D and 2D 11B Double-Rotation (DOR) NMR experiments, in combination with thermodynamic modelling, are able to provide unique structural information about complex glasses. 11B DOR NMR has been applied to Pyrex® glass in order to remove both dipolar and quadrupolar broadening of the NMR lines, leading to high resolution spectra that allow unambiguous, accurate peak fitting to be carried out, of particular importance in the case of the 3-coordinated [BO3] (B3) trigonal planar environments. The data obtained are of sufficient quality that they can be used to test the distributions of borate and borosilicate superstructural units predicted by the thermodynamics-based Model of Associated Solutions. The model predicts the dominant boron-containing chemical groupings in Pyrex® glass to be those associated with B2O3 and sodium tetraborate (with smaller amounts of sodium triborate, sodium diborate, sodium pentaborate, danburite and reedmergnerite). Excellent agreement is found between model and experiment provided the 11B peaks with isotropic chemical shifts of −1.4 ppm and 0.5 ppm are assigned to B4 species from borosilicate units ([B(OSi)4] and [B(OSi)3(OB)]) and borate superstructural units (mainly triborate rings with some pentaborate and diborate) respectively. The peaks with isotropic shifts of 14 ppm and 18.1 ppm are then assigned to B3 in borate superstructural units (mainly triborate and pentaborate along with connecting B3) and boroxol rings respectively. The assignments of the DOR NMR peaks, are supported by the presence of cross-peaks in 11B spin-diffusion DOR NMR spectra which can be used to develop a structural model in which B2O3–like regions are linked, viaborate and borosilicate superstructural units, to the majority silica network. Pyrex® is thus shown to have a heterogeneous structure, with distinct molecular groupings that are far removed from a random distribution of network polyhedra with only short-range order.

Graphical abstract: Boron environments in Pyrex® glass—a high resolution, Double-Rotation NMR and thermodynamic modelling study

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
15 Mar 2011
Accepted
03 May 2011
First published
26 May 2011

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2011,13, 11919-11928

Boron environments in Pyrex® glass—a high resolution, Double-Rotation NMR and thermodynamic modelling study

A. P. Howes, N. M. Vedishcheva, A. Samoson, J. V. Hanna, M. E. Smith, D. Holland and R. Dupree, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2011, 13, 11919 DOI: 10.1039/C1CP20771G

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