Structural Characteristics of 3- and 4-Coordinate Borons from ¹¹B MAS NMR and Single-Crystal NMR in the Nonlinear Optical Material BiB₃O₆

The structural characteristics of 4-coordinate $BO_4$ [B(1)] and 3-coordinate $BO_3$ [B(2)] groups in $BiB_3O_6$ were studied by $^{11}B$ magic angle spinning (MAS) and single-crystal nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The spin-lattice relaxation time in the laboratory frame, $T_1$, for $^{11}B$ decreased slowly with increasing temperature, whereas the spin-lattice relaxation times in the rotating frame, $T_{1{\rho}}$, for B(1) and B(2), which differed from $T_1$, were nearly constant. Further, $T_{1{\rho}}$ for B(1) and B(2) showed very similar trends, although the $T_{1{\rho}}$ value of B(2) was shorter than that of B(1). The 3-coordinate $BO_3$ and 4-coordinate $BO_4$ were distinguished by $^{11}B$ MAS NMR spectrum and $T_{1{\rho}}$.