Structural study of synthetic mica–montmorillonite by means of 2D MAS NMR experiments

Syn-1, is a synthetic mica–montmorillonite interstratified mineral that forms one of the standard clay samples in the Clay Minerals Society Source Clays Project. However, there are still controversies regarding some structural aspects such as the interlayer composition or the location of the extra-aluminium determined by chemical analysis. The main objective of this paper is to shed light on those structural aspects that affect the reactivity of the interstratified minerals. For this purpose, we have used ¹ H–²⁹ Si and ¹ H–²⁷Al HETCOR MAS NMR to show that it is likely that the interlayer space of the beidellite part is composed of ammonium ions whereas ammonium and aluminium ions are responsible for the charge balance in the mica type layer.