Quantification of conformational disorder in glassy polycarbonate by two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy

We have investigated the local chain conformation in amorphous bisphenol-A polycarbonate at the carbonate-phenylene fragment by a solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance study. Chemical-shielding anisotropy (CSA) powder patterns have been analysed, and their sensitivity to local conformation is discussed. CSA-dipole tensor correlation experiments on isotopically enriched samples were analysed in terms of dihedral-angle distributions. The comparison with atomistic simulations allowed for a critical test of the glass model and provided information for the improvement and refinement of the model.