Abstract

The present thesis deals with the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy of small solutes applied to the studies of liquid crystals and molecular sieves. In this method, changes induced by the investigated environment to the static spectral parameters (i.e. nuclear shielding, indirect and direct spin-spin coupling and quadrupole coupling) of the solute are measured.

The nuclear shielding of dissolved noble gases is utilized for the studies of thermotropic liquid crystals. The relation between the symmetry properties of mesophases and the nuclear shielding is described. The different interaction mechanisms perturbing the observed noble gas nuclear shielding are discussed, particularly, the role of long-range attractive van der Waals interactions is brought out. The suitability of the noble gas NMR spectroscopy to the studies of lyotropic liquid crystals is investigated in terms of nuclear shielding and quadrupole coupling interactions.

In molecular sieve systems, the effect of inter- and intracrystalline motions of solutes on their NMR spectra is discussed. A novel method for the measurement of the intracrystalline motions is developed. The distinctions in the ¹³C shielding of methane adsorbed in AlPO₄-11 and SAPO-11, two structurally similar molecular sieves differing in composition, are indicated.