The location of the fluoride ion in tetrapropylammonium fluoride silicalite-1 ([TPA]-F-[Si-MFI]), an as-synthesized siliceous zeolite with the MFI topology, has been unambiguously determined using solidstate NMR experiments alone. With the 1 Hf 29 Si CP-INADEQUATE experiment, the 12 peaks in the highly resolved 29 Si MAS NMR spectrum of [TPA]-F-[Si-MFI] were assigned. Using these peak assignments it was possible to perform 1 H/ 19 F/ 29 Si triple resonance CP, REDOR, and TEDOR experiments to measure F-Si distances and thus locate the fluoride ion. It is covalently bonded to Si-9 in the [4 1 5 2 6 2 ] cage of the zeolite framework and exchanges between two "mirror-related" Si-9 sites, making them equivalent on the NMR time scale. The importance of this result and the general applicability of the approach are discussed.

A general protocol is described for structure determinations of organic sorbate-zeolite complexes based on the selective, through-space, distance-dependent transfer of magnetization from protons in selectively deuterated organics to framework silicon nuclei. The method was developed using the known structure of the high-loaded ZSM-5/p-xylene complex containing p-xylene-d(6) or p-xylene-d(4). It was then applied to determine the unknown structure of the low-loaded ZSM-5/p-xylene complex using NMR alone. For the high-loaded complex improved data were obtained below 273 K, where slow motions and exchange processes of the p-xylene are eliminated. The general approach was validated by the exact agreement of the experimental (1)H-(29)Si CPMAS spectra obtained at a specific contact time and the complete 24-line spectra simulated using 1/T(CP) vs M(2) correlations from only the six clearly resolved resonances. For the low-loaded complex the (29)Si resonances were assigned at 267 K, and variable contact time CP experiments were carried out between 243 and 173 K using the same specifically deuterated p-xylenes. All possible locations and orientations of the p-xylene guests were sampled, and those solutions that gave acceptable linear 1/T(CP) vs M(2) correlations were selected. The optimum p-xylene location in this temperature range was determined to be in the channel intersection with the long molecular axis parallel to [0,1,0] (ring center fractional coordinates {-0.009, 0.250, 0.541}) with the ring plane oriented at an angle of 30 +/- 3 degrees about the crystallographic b axis. A subsequent single-crystal X-ray study confirmed this predicted structure.