3 years ago

# Role of Internal Motions and Molecular Geometry on the NMR Relaxation of Hydrocarbons.

Zeliang Chen, George J. Hirasaki, Walter G. Chapman, Arjun Valiya Parambathu, Dilip Asthagiri, Philip M. Singer

The role of internal motions and molecular geometry on $^1$H NMR relaxation times $T_{1,2}$ in hydrocarbons is investigated using MD (molecular dynamics) simulations of the autocorrelation functions for in{\it tra}molecular $G_R(t)$ and in{\it ter}molecular $G_T(t)$ $^1$H-$^1$H dipole-dipole interactions arising from rotational ($R$) and translational ($T$) diffusion, respectively. We show that molecules with increased molecular symmetry such as neopentane, benzene, and isooctane show better agreement with traditional hard-sphere models than their corresponding straight-chain $n$-alkane, and furthermore that spherically-symmetric neopentane agrees well with the Stokes-Einstein theory. The influence of internal motions on the dynamics and $T_{1,2}$ relaxation of $n$-alkanes are investigated by simulating rigid $n$-alkanes and comparing with flexible (i.e. non-rigid) $n$-alkanes. Internal motions cause the rotational and translational correlation-times $\tau_{R,T}$ to get significantly shorter and the relaxation times $T_{1,2}$ to get significantly longer, especially for longer-chain $n$-alkanes. Site-by-site simulations of $^1$H's along the chains indicate significant variations in $\tau_{R,T}$ and $T_{1,2}$ across the chain, especially for longer-chain $n$-alkanes. The extent of the stretched (i.e. multi-exponential) decay in the autocorrelation functions $G_{R,T}(t)$ are quantified using inverse Laplace transforms, for both rigid and flexible molecules, and on a site-by-site bases. Comparison of $T_{1,2}$ measurements with the site-by-site simulations indicate that cross-relaxation (partially) averages-out the variations in $\tau_{R,T}$ and $T_{1,2}$ across the chain of long-chain $n$-alkanes. This work also has implications on the role of nano-pore confinement on the NMR relaxation of fluids in the organic-matter pores of kerogen and bitumen.

Publisher URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/1801.07803

DOI: arXiv:1801.07803v1

You might also like
Discover & Discuss Important Research

Keeping up-to-date with research can feel impossible, with papers being published faster than you'll ever be able to read them. That's where Researcher comes in: we're simplifying discovery and making important discussions happen. With over 19,000 sources, including peer-reviewed journals, preprints, blogs, universities, podcasts and Live events across 10 research areas, you'll never miss what's important to you. It's like social media, but better. Oh, and we should mention - it's free.

Researcher displays publicly available abstracts and doesn’t host any full article content. If the content is open access, we will direct clicks from the abstracts to the publisher website and display the PDF copy on our platform. Clicks to view the full text will be directed to the publisher website, where only users with subscriptions or access through their institution are able to view the full article.