Solid-state ²⁷Al nuclear magnetic resonance investigation of three aluminum-centered dyes

We report the first solid-state ²⁷Al NMR study of three aluminum phthalocyanine dyes: aluminum phthalocyanine chloride, AlPcCl (1); aluminum-1,8,15,22-tetrakis(phenylthio)-29H,31H-phthalocyanine chloride, AlPc(SPh)₄Cl (2); and aluminum-2,3-naphthalocyanine chloride, AlNcCl (3). Each of these compounds contains A^l3+ ions coordinating to four nitrogen atoms and a chlorine atom. Solid-state ²⁷Al NMR spectra, including multiple-quantum magic-angle spinning (MQMAS) spectra and quadrupolar Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill (QCPMG) spectra of stationary powdered samples have been acquired at multiple high magnetic field strengths (11.7, 14.1, and 21.1 T) to determine their composition and number of aluminum sites, which were analyzed to extract detailed information on the aluminum electric field gradient (EFG) and nuclear magnetic shielding tensors. The quadrupolar parameters for each ²⁷Al site were determined from spectral simulations, with quadrupolar coupling constants (C_Q) ranging from 5.40 to 10.0 MHz and asymmetry parameters (η) ranging from 0.10 to 0.50, and compared well with the results of quantum chemical calculations of these tensors. We also report the largest ²⁷Al chemical shielding anisotropy (CSA), with a span of 120 ± 10 ppm, observed directly in a solid material. The combination of MQMAS and computational predictions are used to interpret the presence of multiple aluminum sites in two of the three samples.