129Xe NMR: A powerful tool for studying the adsorption mechanism between mesoporous corn starch and palladium.

For the first time, 129Xe NMR measurements are utilized to explore adsorption mechanism between porous structures of mesoporous corn starch and Palladium. Dithiocarbamate modified mesoporous corn starch (donated as DTC MS) was synthesized and applied for adsorption of Pd (II) ion successfully. The structural characterization of DTC MS was carried out by FT-IR, 13C solid-state NMR and XRD, respectively. To study the adsorption mechanism, variable temperature 129Xe NMR was measured on samples of DTC MS and Pd adsorbed in DTC mesoporous starch (donated as Pd-DTC MS), respectively. It was found that Pd ions were mainly located inside pores and channels instead of the surface of mesoporous starch. The results not only demonstrate that 129Xe NMR spectroscopy is a powerful tool to assess the porous structure of MS, but also pave the way for investigating the interaction between functional molecules and porous starch.