Description
Kunlun Hong, Peter V. Bonnesen
Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences,
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge TN 37831
Abstract: Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe. It has two stable isotopes, protium and deuterium, though deuterium is quite rare with a natural abundance of only 0.016%. Selective incorporation of deuterium in place of protium in soft materials (organic compounds, polymeric materials) for the most part does not alter the physical and chemical properties of the compound, yet provides rich structural information due to the difference in neutron scattering length densities. Thus selective deuteration can provide a powerful approach to structural elucidation and chemical dynamics by way of neutron scattering analyses. In this presentation, we will discuss some examples of how selective deuteration can be used to pinpoint polymeric structural and dynamical features unambiguously.
Acknowledgement: This work was performed at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, supported by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences, U.S. Department of Energy.
Primary author
Kunlun Hong
(Oak Ridge National Laboratory)
Co-author
Peter V. Bonnesen
(Oak Ridge National Laboratory)
