Determination of the Average Aromatic Cluster Size of Fossil Fuels by Solid-State NMR at High Magnetic Field

We show that the average aromatic cluster size in complex carbonaceous materials can be accurately determined using fast magic-angle spinning (MAS) NMR at a high magnetic field. To accurately quantify the nonprotonated aromatic carbon, we edited the 13C spectra using the recently reported MAS-synchronized spin–echo, which alleviated the problem of rotational recoupling of 1H-13C dipolar interactions associated with traditional dipolar dephasing experiments. The dependability of this approach was demonstrated on selected Argonne Premium coal standards, for which full sets of basic structural parameters were determined with high accuracy.