Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Inspired by a study reporting on the zinc oxide-induced mechanochemical conglomerate formation of racemic amino acids, we investigated the reaction behavior of the analogous 19F-labeled DL-valine. Solid-state NMR spectroscopy under magic-angle spinning (MAS) conditions was employed as the central analytical technique to analyze the reaction products. In contrast to our expectation, no conglomerate formation occurred, and in the presence of ZnO and methanol a polymeric complex with one zinc and two fluorinated valine molecules was formed in a vibrational ball mill. Repeating these experiments with non-fluorinated valine led to a rather unusual and unique tetranuclear species with an overall composition of Zn4(D-Val)4(L-Val)4 as determined by single-crystal analysis and solid-state NMR. The latter complex was also formed when an equimolar ratio of the two enantiopure valine phases was combined in the ball mill with ZnO and methanol. The use of Resonant Acoustic Mixing (RAM) led to the same complex, but the efficiency of its formation varied significantly depending on the reaction conditions.
Source: ChemRxiv
Institution: Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion
Language: English
Subfield: Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
Field: Chemistry
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: G1115906470, EXC 2186: Das Fuel Science Center – Adaptive Umwandlungssysteme für erneuerbare Energie und Kohlenstoffquellen, Zelluläre Organisation durch Phasenseparationsprozesse untersucht mittels FestkörperNMR: Erkenntnise von RNAbindenden Proteinen und konstruierten Spinnenseideproteinen, Aufklären dynamischer Materialänderungen von ZnPd/ZnOKatalysatoren in der MethanolDampfreformierung auf atomarer Ebene, G5339440247, G7112107
OpenAlex ID: W7215064560