Powder Crystallography by Combined Crystal Structure Prediction and High-Resolution ¹H Solid-State NMR Spectroscopy

A fast method for crystal structure determination using crystal structure prediction and solid-state (1)H NMR is presented. This technique does not need any prior knowledge except the chemical formula; resonance assignment is not necessary. Starting from an ensemble of predicted crystal structures for powdered thymol, comparison between experimental and calculated (1)H solid-state isotropic NMR chemical shifts is sufficient to determine which predicted structure corresponds to the powder under study. The same approach using proton-proton spin-diffusion data is successful and can be used for cross-validation.