Longitudinal Relaxation Enhancement in 1H NMR Spectroscopy of Tissue Metabolites via Spectrally Selective Excitation

Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy is governed by longitudinal (T₁) relaxation. For protein and nucleic acid experiments in solutions, it is well established that apparent T₁ values can be enhanced by selective excitation of targeted resonances. The present study explores such longitudinal relaxation enhancement (LRE) effects for molecules residing in biological tissues. The longitudinal relaxation recovery of tissue resonances positioned both down‐ and upfield of the water peak were measured by spectrally selective excitation/refocusing pulses, and compared with conventional water‐suppressed, broadband‐excited counterparts at 9.4 T. Marked LRE effects with up to threefold reductions in apparent T₁ values were observed as expected for resonances in the 6–9 ppm region; remarkably, statistically significant LRE effects were also found for several non‐exchanging metabolite resonances in the 1–4 ppm region, encompassing 30–50 % decreases in apparent T₁ values. These LRE effects suggest a novel means of increasing the sensitivity of tissue‐oriented experiments, and open new vistas to investigate the nature of interactions among metabolites, water and macromolecules at a molecular level.     

Enantioselective acylation of silyl ketene acetals through fluoride anion-binding catalysis

A highly enantioselective acylation of silyl ketene acetals with acyl fluorides has been developed to generate useful α,α-disubstituted butyrolactone products. This transformation is promoted by a new thiourea catalyst and 4-pyrrolidinopyridine and represents the first example of enantioselective thiourea anion-binding catalysis with fluoride.     

A master-equation approach to the description of proton-driven spin diffusion from crystal geometry using simulated zero-quantum lineshapes

Measurements of proton-driven carbon-13 spin diffusion (PDSD) by NMR spectroscopy are a central component of structural analyses of biomolecules in the solid-state. However, the quantitative link between experimental PDSD data and structural information is difficult to make. Here we observe that a master-equation approach can be used to model full PDSD dynamics accurately in polycrystalline (13)C-labelled L-histidine·HCl·H(2)O under magic-angle spinning. In the master-equation approach, PDSD rates and effective dipolar couplings are related by a function of the carbon-carbon zero-quantum lineshapes; we find that numerical simulations of the zero-quantum lineshapes are sufficiently accurate so as to allow the calculation of PDSD rates that are in good agreement with the measured rates, directly from crystal geometry and with no adjustable parameters. Finally, using carbon-carbon internuclear distances we illustrate the potential of the master-equation approach for structural studies. Generalisation of these results to proton-driven carbon-13 spin diffusion in more complex molecular systems is readily envisaged.     

Quasi-equilibria in reduced Liouville spaces

The quasi-equilibrium behaviour of isolated nuclear spin systems in full and reduced Liouville spaces is discussed. We focus in particular on the reduced Liouville spaces used in the low-order correlations in Liouville space (LCL) simulation method, a restricted-spin-space approach to efficiently modelling the dynamics of large networks of strongly coupled spins. General numerical methods for the calculation of quasi-equilibrium expectation values of observables in Liouville space are presented. In particular, we treat the cases of a time-independent Hamiltonian, a time-periodic Hamiltonian (with and without stroboscopic sampling) and powder averaging. These quasi-equilibrium calculation methods are applied to the example case of spin diffusion in solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance. We show that there are marked differences between the quasi-equilibrium behaviour of spin systems in the full and reduced spaces. These differences are particularly interesting in the time-periodic-Hamiltonian case, where simulations carried out in the reduced space demonstrate ergodic behaviour even for small spins systems (as few as five homonuclei). The implications of this ergodic property on the success of the LCL method in modelling the dynamics of spin diffusion in magic-angle spinning experiments of powders is discussed.     

NanoSIMS50 — a powerful tool to elucidate cellular localization of halogenated organic compounds

Persistent organic pollutants are widely distributed in the environment and lots of toxicological data are available. However, little is known on the intracellular fate of such compounds. Here a method applying secondary ion mass spectrometry is described that can be used to visualize cellular localization of halogenated compounds and to semi-quantitatively calculate concentrations of such compounds. Of the model compounds tested, TBBPA was homogenously distributed in the cell membrane of the H295R cells while PFOS accumulated in very distinct locations in the cell membrane. Relative intracellular concentrations of 4-OH-BDE69 and 4-OH-BDE121 in GH3.TRE were 61?% and 18?%, respectively, compared to the parent compounds. These differences may partly explain that observed effect concentrations for 4-OH-BDEs in in vitro experiments are usually lower than what would be expected based on receptor binding studies. NanoSIMS50 proved to be a powerful tool to describe the cellular distribution of halogenated compounds. The semi-quantitative data that can be obtained may help to further explain results from in vitro or in vivo experiments.     

Thermodynamical properties and defect energetics of an n-body potential adapted to Cu3Au

By using molecular statics, molecular dynamics, and Monte Carlo techniques we validate a previously developed empirical n-body potential adapted to Cu₃Au. At T=0 K, predicted cohesive energies, lattice parameters, and elastic constants in CuAu and CuAu₃ as well as the formation energy of vacancies in Cu₃Au are in good agreement with experimental data. A satisfactory behavior is also obtained at T 0 K in Cu₃Au, for atomic mean-square displacements and elastic moduli. However, this model underestimates the vacancy migration energy and the order-disorder critical temperature when the latter is evaluated by Monte Carlo including both exchanges between atoms of different species and atomic moves simulating vibrations.     

Understanding J‐Modulation during Spatial Encoding for Sensitivity‐Optimized Ultrafast NMR Spectroscopy

Ultrafast (UF) NMR spectroscopy is an approach that yields 2D spectra in a single scan. This methodology has become a powerful analytical tool that is used in a large array of applications. However, UF NMR spectroscopy still suffers from an intrinsic low sensitivity, and from the need to compromise between sensitivity, spectral width, and resolution. In particular, the modulation of signal intensities by the spin–spin J‐coupling interaction (J‐modulation) impacts significantly on the intensities of the spectral peaks. This effect can lead to large sensitivity losses and even to missing spectral peaks, depending on the nature of the spin system. Herein, a general simulation package (Spinach) is used to describe J‐modulation effects in UF experiments. The results from simulations match with experimental data and the results of product operator calculations. Several methods are proposed to optimize the sensitivity in UF COSY spectra. The potential and drawbacks of the different strategies are also discussed. These approaches provide a way to adjust the sensitivity of UF experiments for a large range of applications.     

Single‐Scan Multidimensional NMR Analysis of Mixtures at Sub‐Millimolar Concentrations by using SABRE Hyperpolarization

Signal amplification by reversible exchange (SABRE) is a promising method to increase the sensitivity of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments. However, SABRE‐enhanced ¹H NMR signals are short lived, and SABRE is often used to record 1D NMR spectra only. When the sample of interest is a complex mixture, this results in severe overlaps for ¹H spectra. In addition, the use of a co‐substrate, whose signals may obscure the ¹H spectra, is currently the most efficient way to lower the detection limit of SABRE experiments. Here, we describe an approach to obtain clean, SABRE‐hyperpolarized 2D ¹H NMR spectra of mixtures of small molecules at sub‐millimolar concentrations in a single scan. The method relies on the use of para‐hydrogen together with a deuterated co‐substrate for hyperpolarization and ultrafast 2D NMR for acquisition. It is applicable to all substrates that can be polarized with SABRE.