Combining PGSE NMR with homonuclear dipolar decoupling

A new robust approach for combining multiple-pulse homonuclear decoupling and PGSE NMR is introduced for accurately measuring molecular diffusion coefficients in systems with nonvanishing static homonuclear dipolar couplings. Homonuclear decoupling suppresses dipolar dephasing during the gradient pulses but its efficiency and scaling factor for the effective gradient vary across the sample because of the large variation of the frequency offset caused by the gradient. The resulting artifacts are reduced by introducing a slice selection scheme. The method is demonstrated by (19)F PGSE NMR experiments in a lyotropic liquid crystal.     

Measurement of the principal values of the anisotropic diffusion tensor in an unoriented sample by exploiting the chemical shift anisotropy: (19)F PGSE NMR with homonuclear decoupling

NMR methods (S. V. Dvinskikh et al., J. Magn. Reson. 142, 102-110 (2000) and S. V. Dvinskikh and I. Furó, J. Magn. Reson. 144, 142-149 (2000)) that combine PGSE with dipolar decoupling are extended to polycrystalline solids and unoriented liquid crystals. Decoupling suppresses dipolar dephasing not only during the gradient pulses but also under signal acquisition so that the detected spectral shape is dominated by the chemical shift tensor of the selected nucleus. The decay of the spectral intensity at different positions in the powder spectrum provides the diffusion coefficient in sample regions with their crystal axes oriented differently with respect to the direction of the field gradient. Hence, one can obtain the principal values of the diffusion tensor. The method is demonstrated by (19)F PGSE NMR with homonuclear decoupling in a lyotropic lamellar liquid crystal.     

Selective dephasing of OH and NH proton magnetization based on (1)H chemical-shift anisotropy recoupling

A method for selectively suppressing the signals of OH and NH protons in (1)H combined rotation and multiple-pulse spectroscopy (CRAMPS) and in (1)H-(13)C heteronuclear correlation (HETCOR) solid-state NMR spectra is presented. It permits distinction of overlapping CH and OH/NH proton signals, based on the selective dephasing of the magnetization of OH and NH protons by their relatively large (1)H chemical-shift anisotropies. For NH protons, the (14)N-(1)H dipolar coupling also contributes significantly to this dephasing. The dephasing is achieved by a new combination of heteronuclear recoupling of these anisotropies with (1)H homonuclear dipolar decoupling. Since the 180 degrees pulses traditionally used for heteronuclear dipolar and chemical-shift anisotropy recoupling would result in undesirable homonuclear dephasing of proton magnetization, instead the necessary inversion of the chemical-shift Hamiltonian every half rotation period is achieved by inverting the phases of all the pulses in the HW8 multiple-pulse sequence. In the HETCOR experiments, carefully timed (13)C 180 degrees pulses remove the strong dipolar coupling to the nearby (13)C spin. The suppression of NH and OH peaks is demonstrated on crystalline model compounds. The technique in combination with HETCOR NMR is applied to identify the CONH and NH-CH groups in chitin and to distinguish NH and aromatic proton peaks in a peat humin.     

Methylene spectral editing in solid-state 13C NMR by three-spin coherence selection

A robust new solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) method for selecting CH2 signals in magic-angle spinning (MAS) 13C NMR spectra is presented. Heteronuclear dipolar evolution for a duration of 0.043 ms, under MREV-8 homonuclear proton decoupling, converts 13C magnetization of CH2 groups into two- and three-spin coherences. The CH2 selection in the SIJ (C H H) spin system is based on the three-spin coherence S(x)I(z)J(z), which is distinguished from 13C magnetization (S(x)) by a 1H 0 degrees/90 degrees pulse consisting of two 45 degrees pulses. The two-spin coherences of the type S(y)I(z) are removed by a 13C 90 degrees x-pulse. The three-spin coherence is reconverted into magnetization during the remainder of the rotation period, still under MREV-8 decoupling. The required elimination of 13C chemical-shift precession is achieved by a prefocusing 180 degrees pulse bracketed by two rotation periods. The selection of the desired three-spin coherence has an efficiency of 13% theoretically and of 8% experimentally relative to the standard CP/MAS spectrum. However, long-range couplings also produce some three-spin coherences of methine (CH) carbons. Therefore, the length of the 13C pulse flipping the two-spin coherences is increased by 12% to slightly invert the CH signals arising from two-spin coherences and thus cancel the signal from long-range three-spin coherences. The signal intensity in this cleaner spectrum is 6% relative to the regular CP/TOSS spectrum. The only residual signal is from methyl groups, which are suppressed at least sixfold relative to the CH2 peaks. The experiment is demonstrated on cholesteryl acetate and applied to two humic acids.     

The refocused INADEQUATE MAS NMR experiment in multiple spin-systems: interpreting observed correlation peaks and optimising lineshapes

The robustness of the refocused INADEQUATE MAS NMR pulse sequence for probing through-bond connectivities has been demonstrated in a large range of solid-state applications. This pulse sequence nevertheless suffers from artifacts when applied to multispin systems, e.g. uniformly labeled (13)C solids, which distort the lineshapes and can potentially result in misleading correlation peaks. In this paper, we present a detailed account that combines product-operator analysis, numerical simulations and experiments of the behavior of a three-spin system during the refocused INADEQUATE pulse sequence. The origin of undesired anti-phase contributions to the spectral lineshapes are described, and we show that they do not interfere with the observation of long-range correlations (e.g. two-bond (13)C-(13)C correlations). The suppression of undesired contributions to the refocused INADEQUATE spectra is shown to require the removal of zero-quantum coherences within a z-filter. A method is proposed to eliminate zero-quantum coherences through dephasing by heteronuclear dipolar couplings, which leads to pure in-phase spectra.     

Effective dipolar couplings determined by dipolar dephasing of double-quantum coherences

It is shown how homonuclear distances and homonuclear dipolar lattice sums between spin-1/2 nuclei can be measured by a pulsed solid-state NMR experiment under magic-angle spinning conditions. The presented technique is based on double-quantum coherence filtering. Instead of measuring a build-up of double-quantum coherence the pulse sequence is designed to dephase double-quantum coherence. This is achieved by exciting double-quantum coherence either with the help of the through-space dipolar coupling or the through-bond dipolar coupling while the dephasing relies on the through-space dipolar coupling as selected by a gamma-encoded pulse sequence from the C/R symmetry class. Since dephasing curves can be normalized on zero dephasing, it is possible to analyze the initial dephasing regime and hence determine dipolar lattice sums (effective dipolar couplings) in multiple-spin systems. A formula for the effective dipolar coupling is derived theoretically and validated by numerical calculations and experiments on crystalline model compounds for (13)C and (31)P spin systems. The double-quantum dephasing experiment can be combined with constant-time data sampling to compensate for relaxation effects, consequently only two experimental data points are necessary for a single distance measurement. The phase cycling overhead for the constant-time experiment is minimal because a short cogwheel phase cycle exists. A 2D implementation is demonstrated on [(13)C(3)]alanine.     

Recoupled long-range C-H dipolar dephasing in solid-state NMR,and its use for spectral selection of fused aromatic rings

This work introduces a simple new solid-state 13C NMR method for distinguishing various types of aromatic residues, e.g. those of lignin from fused rings of charcoal. It is based on long-range dipolar dephasing, which is achieved by recoupling of long-range C-H dipolar interactions, using two 1H 180 degrees pulses per rotation period. This speeds up dephasing of unprotonated carbon signals approximately threefold compared to standard dipolar dephasing without recoupling and thus provides much more efficient differential dephasing. It also reduces the effects of spinning-speed dependent effective proton-proton dipolar couplings on the heteronuclear dephasing. Signals of unprotonated carbons with two or more protons at a two-bond distance dephase to <3% within less than 0.9 ms, significantly faster than those of aromatic sites separated from the nearest proton by three or more bonds. Differential dephasing among different unprotonated carbons is demonstrated in a substituted anthraquinone and 3-methoxy benzamide. The data yield a calibration curve for converting the dephasing rates into estimated distances from the carbon to the nearest protons. This can be used for peak assignment in heavily substituted or fused aromatic molecules. Compared to lignin, slow dephasing is observed for the aromatic carbons in wood charcoal, and even slower for inorganic carbonate. Direct 13C polarization is used on these structurally complex samples to prevent loss of the signals of interest, which by design originate from carbons that are distant from protons and therefore crosspolarize poorly. In natural organic matter such as humic acids, this combination of recoupled dipolar dephasing and direct polarization at 7-kHz MAS enables selective observation of signals from fused rings that are characteristic of charcoal.     

13C-1H HSQC experiment of probe molecules aligned in thermotropic liquid crystals: sensitivity and resolution enhancement in the indirect dimension

The spectra of molecules oriented in liquid crystalline media are dominated by partially averaged dipolar couplings. In the 13C-1H HSQC, due to the inefficient hetero-nuclear dipolar decoupling in the indirect dimension, normally carried out by using a pi pulse, there is a considerable loss of resolution. Furthermore, in such strongly orienting media the 1H-1H and 13C-1H dipolar couplings leads to fast dephasing of transverse magnetization causing inefficient polarization transfer and hence the loss of sensitivity in the indirect dimension. In this study we have carried out 13C-1H HSQC experiment with efficient polarization transfer from 1H to 13C for molecules aligned in liquid crystalline media. The homonuclear dipolar decoupling using FFLG during the INEPT transfer delays and also during evolution period combined with the pi pulse heteronuclear decoupling in the t1 period has been applied. The studies showed a significant reduction in partially averaged dipolar couplings and thereby enhancement in the resolution and sensitivity in the indirect dimension. This has been demonstrated on pyridazine and pyrimidine oriented in the liquid crystal. The two closely resonating carbons in pyrimidine are better resolved in the present study compared to the earlier work [H.S. Vinay Deepak, Anu Joy, N. Suryaprakash, Determination of natural abundance 15N-1H and 13C-1H dipolar couplings of molecules in a strongly orienting media using two-dimensional inverse experiments, Magn. Reson. Chem. 44 (2006) 553-565].     

Separation of aromatic-carbon 13C NMR signals from di-oxygenated alkyl bands by a chemical-shift-anisotropy filter

Selection of alkyl-carbon and suppression of aromatic-carbon 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) signals has been achieved by exploiting the symmetry-based, systematic difference in their 13C chemical-shift anisotropies (CSAs). Simple three- or five-pulse CSA-recoupling sequences with "gamma-integral" cleanly suppress the signals of all sp2- and sp-hybridized carbons. The chemical-shift-anisotropy-based dephasing is particularly useful for distinguishing the signals of di-oxygenated alkyl (O-C-O) carbons, found for instance as anomeric carbons in carbohydrates, from bands of aromatic carbons with similar 13C isotropic chemical shifts. The alkyl signals are detected with an efficiency of > 60%, with little differential dephasing. Combined with C-H dipolar dephasing, the CSA filter can identify ketal (unprotonated O-C-O) carbons unambiguously for the first time. Conversely, after short cross polarization and the CSA filter, O-CH-O (acetal) carbon signals are observed selectively. The methods are demonstrated on various model compounds and applied to a humic acid.     

NMR determination of the torsion angle psi in alpha-helical peptides and proteins: the HCCN dipolar correlation experiment

Several existing methods permit measurement of the torsion angles phi, psi and chi in peptides and proteins with solid-state MAS NMR experiments. Currently, however, there is not an approach that is applicable to measurement of psi in the angular range -20 degree to -70 degree, commonly found in alpha-helical structures. Accordingly, we have developed a HCCN dipolar correlation MAS experiment that is sensitive and accurate in this regime. An initial REDOR driven (13)C'--(15)N dipolar evolution period is followed by the C' to C(alpha) polarization transfer and by Lee--Goldburg cross polarization recoupling of the (13)C(alpha)(1)H dipolar interaction. The difference between the effective (13)C(1)H and (13)C(15)N dipolar interaction strengths is balanced out by incrementing the (13)C--(15)N dipolar evolution period in steps that are a factor of R(R approximately omega(CH)/omega(CN)) larger than the (13)C--(1)H steps. The resulting dephasing curves are sensitive to variations in psi in the angular region associated with alpha-helical secondary structure. To demonstrate the validity of the technique, we apply it to N-formyl-[U-(13)C,(15)N] Met-Leu-Phe-OH (MLF). The value of psi extracted is consistent with the previous NMR measurements and close to that reported in diffraction studies for the methyl ester of MLF, N-formyl-[U-(13)C,(15)N]Met-Leu-Phe-OMe.     

Improved narrowband dipolar recoupling for homonuclear distance measurements in rotating solids

Recovery of the magnetic dipolar interaction between nuclei bearing the same gyromagnetic ratio in rotating solids can be promoted by synchronous rf irradiation. Determination of the dipolar interaction strength can serve as a tool for structural elucidation in polycrystalline powders. Spinning frequency dependent narrow-band (nb) RFDR and SEDRA experiments are utilized as simple techniques for the determination of dipolar interactions between the nuclei in coupled homonuclear spin pairs. The magnetization exchange and coherence dephasing due to a fixed number of rotor-synchronously applied pi-pulses is monitored at spinning frequencies in the vicinity of the rotational resonance (R(2)) conditions. The powder nbRFDR and nbSEDRA decay curves of spin magnetizations and coherences, respectively, as a function of the spinning frequency can be measured and analyzed using simple rate equations providing a quantitative measure of the dipolar coupling. The effects of the phenomenological relaxation parameters in these rate equations are discussed and an improved methodology is suggested for analyzing nbRFDR data for small dipolar couplings. The distance between the labeled nuclei in the 1,3-(13)C(2)-hydroxybutyric acid molecule is rederived using existing nbRFDR results and the new simulation procedure. A nbSEDRA experiment has been performed successfully on a powder sample of singly labeled 1-(13)C-L-leucine measuring the dipolar interaction between the labeled carboxyl carbon and the natural abundant beta-carbon. Both narrowband techniques are employed for the determination of the nuclear distances between the side-chain carbons of leucine and its carbonyl carbon in a tripeptide Leu-Gly-Phe that is singly (13)C-labeled at the leucine carbonyl carbon position.     

REDOR-determined distances from heterospins to clusters of 13C labels

The use of rotational-echo double resonance NMR to measure distances from an observed tightly coupled cluster of 13C spins to a distant 15N, 31P, or 19F is practical if all homonuclear 13C-13C dipolar interactions are suppressed by multiple-pulse decoupling during heteronuclear dipolar evolution. This scheme is first calibrated by experiments performed on multiply labeled alanines and then applied in the measurement of 19F-13C distances in p-trifluoromethylphenyl [1,2-13C2]acetate.     

Resolution of 13C-19F interactions in the 13C NMR of spinning solids and liquid crystals

Anomalous line-broadenings of carbon resonances close to 19F have commonly been reported in the 13C NMR of liquid crystals and solids. We have previously shown that these effects in static liquid-crystal samples are related to the difficulty of 1H decoupling in the presence of strong 1H-19F dipolar interactions. We here extend this work to spinning samples (both liquid crystals and solids). A number of different line-broadening mechanisms are elucidated: analogous decoupling effects, magic angle misset, and 19F lifetime-broadening. In relatively mobile systems, such as liquid crystals or soft solids, the limiting factor on 13C resolution (and the ability to directly quantify the 13C-19F interactions) is found to be the efficiency and robustness of the 1H-decoupling. In rigid solids, the lifetime of the 19F spin-states is found to be an additional critical factor.     

Aromatic spectral editing techniques for magic-angle-spinning solid-state NMR spectroscopy of uniformly 13C-labeled proteins

The four aromatic amino acids in proteins, namely histidine, phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan, have strongly overlapping ¹³C chemical shift ranges between 100 and 160 ppm, and have so far been largely neglected in solid-state NMR determination of protein structures. Yet aromatic residues play important roles in biology through π–π and cation–π interactions. To better resolve and assign aromatic residues' ¹³C signals in magic-angle-spinning (MAS) solid-state NMR spectra, we introduce two spectral editing techniques. The first method uses gated ¹H decoupling in a proton-driven spin-diffusion (PDSD) experiment to remove all protonated ¹³C signals and retain only non-protonated carbon signals in the aromatic region of the ¹³C spectra. The second technique uses chemical shift filters and ¹H–¹³C dipolar dephasing to selectively detect the Cα, Cβ and CO cross peaks of aromatic residues while suppressing the signals of all aliphatic residues. We demonstrate these two techniques on amino acids, a model peptide, and the microcrystalline protein GB1, and show that they significantly simplify the 2D NMR spectra and both reveal and permit the ready assignment of the aromatic residues' signals.     

Sample restriction using magnetic field gradients in high-resolution solid-state NMR

Many solid-state NMR experiments are sensitive to inhomogeneity in the radiofrequency field. We propose a method to restrict the sample volume, in magic angle spinning experiments, using a static magnetic field gradient and a selective pulse. The position of the gradient is calculated for our experimental configuration and we have simulated the effects of selective pulses to determine the excited volume. The resulting sequences are applied to a sample of sodium acetate using frequency-switched Lee–Goldburg proton–proton homonuclear dipolar decoupling. A gain of a factor of 2 on the carbon resolution is experimentally observed.     

The multiple quantum NMR dynamics in systems of equivalent spins with a dipolar ordered initial state

The multiple quantum (MQ) NMR dynamics in the system of equivalent spins with the dipolar ordered initial state is considered. The high symmetry of the Hamiltonian responsible for the MQ NMR dynamics (the MQ Hamiltonian) is used to develop analytic and numerical methods for the investigation of the MQ NMR dynamics in systems consisting of hundreds of spins from the “first principles.” We obtain the dependence of the intensities of the MQ NMR coherences on their orders (profiles of the MQ NMR coherences) for systems of 200–600 spins. It is shown that these profiles may be well approximated by exponential distribution functions. We also compare the MQ NMR dynamics in the systems of equivalent spins having two different initial states, the dipolar ordered state and the thermal equilibrium state in a strong external magnetic field.     

Heteronuclear decoupling by multiple rotating frame technique

The paper describes the multiple rotating frame technique for designing modulated rf fields, that perform broadband heteronuclear decoupling in solution NMR spectroscopy. The decoupling method presented here is understood by performing a sequence of coordinate transformations, each of which demodulates a component of the rf field to a static component, that progressively averages the chemical shift and the dipolar interaction. We show that by increasing the number of modulations in the decoupling field, the ratio of dispersion in the chemical shift to the strength of the static component of the rf field is successively reduced in the progressive frames. The known decoupling methods like continuous wave decoupling, TPPM, etc., can be viewed as special cases of this method and their performance improves by adding additional modulations in the decoupling field. The technique is also expected to find use in design of broadband excitation, inversion and mixing sequences and broadband experiments in solid state NMR.     

Quantum Treatment of Intermolecular Multiple-Quantum Coherences with IntramolecularJCoupling in Solution NMR

A recently introduced density matrix picture for dipolar effects in solution NMR (1996,J. Chem. Phys.105,874) gave complete solutions for intermolecular multiple-quantum coherences for single-component samples without scalar couplings. This paper, for the first time, shows that this quantum picture can lead to explicit signal expressions for multicomponent samples of molecules with internal scalar couplings (here assumed to generate a first-order spectrum) and long-range dipolar couplings. Experimental observation of a triplet in the indirectly detected dimension for a heteronuclear CRAZED sequence (¹³CHCl₃sample, ZQ or 2Q coherences) gives clear evidence that the coupling is due to the intermolecular dipolar coupling. We also make comparisons with classical pictures which introduce the dipolar demagnetization field in multicomponent spin systems.     

Relaxation-induced dipolar exchange with recoupling-An MAS NMR method for determining heteronuclear distances without irradiating the second spin

A new magic-angle spinning NMR method for distance determination between unlike spins, where one of the two spins in question is not irradiated at all, is introduced. Relaxation-induced dipolar exchange with recoupling (RIDER) experiments can be performed with conventional double-resonance equipment and utilize the familiar π-pulse trains to recouple the heteronuclear dipolar interaction under magic-angle spinning conditions. Longitudinal relaxation of the passive spin during a delay between two recoupling periods results in a dephasing of the heteronuclear coherence and consequently a dephasing of the magnetization detected after the second recoupling period. The information about the dipolar coupling is obtained by recording normalized dephasing curves in a fashion similar to the REDOR experiment. At intermediate mixing times, the dephasing curves also depend on the relaxation properties of the passive spin, i.e., on single- and double-quantum longitudinal relaxation times for the case of I = 1 nuclei, and these relaxation times can be estimated with this new method. To a good approximation, the experiment does not depend on possible quadrupolar interactions of the passive spin, which makes RIDER an attractive method when distances to quadrupolar nuclei are to be determined. The new method is demonstrated experimentally with ¹⁴N and ²H as heteronuclei and observation of ¹³C in natural abundance.     

Cross-relaxation effects in stimulated-echo-type PGSE NMR experiments by bipolar and monopolar gradient pulses

Exchange of longitudinal spin polarization by dipolar cross relaxation between nonequivalent spins results in a modulation of the stimulated echo signal on increasing the encoding/decoding delays and in a multiexponential decay on increasing the diffusion time. These artifacts are suppressed by 180° pulses inserted in the middle of the gradient encoding/decoding periods. The efficiency of the gradient encoding is preserved if bipolar gradient pulses are used instead of monopolar pulses. The behavior of the different pulse sequences is demonstrated by ¹⁹F PGSE NMR experiments in a lyotropic liquid crystal in both isotropic micellar and oriented nematic phases.