NMR spin–lattice relaxation time measurements in organochalcogen compounds

¹H and ⁷⁷Se spin-lattice relaxation times have been measured for the series of organochalcogen compounds MeE(CH₂)nEMe (E=S, Se, n=0–3; E = O, n = 1, 2). The methyl and methylene proton T₁ values decreased with increasing mass/size of the chalcogen and with increasing methylene chain length. The values are primarily due to intra- and inter-molecular dipole-dipole relaxation with proton-proton cross-relaxation effects playing a significant role. ⁷⁷Se T₁ values are dominated by spin rotation and chemical shielding anisotropy mechanisms, their relative importance depending on the size of the molecule and temperature of measurement.     

Carbon-13 NMR relaxation time measurements of molybdenum carbonyl physisorbed on alumina

In order to obtain information about the motion of Mo(CO)₆ physisorbed on high surface area alumina, the temperature dependences of ¹³C NMR relaxation times, T₁ and T₂, have been measured at 7.05 T. Eight samples prepared under various conditions were studied. Two types of alumina (γ and η) were used and the alumina in two samples was pretreated with iron nitrate. A T₁ minimum of 0.4 s at 220 K observed for most samples corresponds to a correlation time of 2 × 10⁻⁹ s. The dominant relaxation mechanism is not chemical shift anisotropy since T₁ measurements at 3.5 T indicated no field dependence. An increase in the iron content of the alumina decreased T₁ above 273 K but caused only minor changes in T₁ and T₂ at lower temperatures. T₁ was 0.73 s and T₂ was 11 ms for Mo(CO)₆ on the η-alumina sample at 300 K.     

Assignment of the 13C NMR resonances in trialkylphosphines from spin-lattice relaxation time measurements

Analysis of the ¹³C NMR chemical shift and coupling constant data for a number of straight-chain aliphatic trialkylphosphines and their transition metal carbonyl complexes suggests that complexation leads to: (1) a deshielding of C(1) and an increase in ¹J(¹³C³¹P), (2) a slight shielding of C(2) and a decrease in ²J(¹³C³¹P), and (3) little or no change in the chemical shift for C(3) and a slight increase in ³J(¹³C³¹P). Application of these rules to the assignment of the ¹³C NMR spectrum of P(butyl)₃ led to conflict with prior work. A study of segmental motion in these derivatives via spin-lattine (T₁) relaxation time measurements was therefore performed, and these data are in complete agreement with the proposed assignments. These generalizations must be applied with care, however, since the presence of either unsaturation or branching near the phosphorus can interfere with this pattern.     

Two-component protein adsorption kinetics in porous ion exchange media

This work provides a theoretical analysis of multicomponent adsorption kinetics for conditions typical of protein adsorption in porous ion exchangers as well as experimental results for the adsorption of lysozyme/cytochrome c mixtures in the cation exchanger SP-Sepharose-FF. The theory predicts the formation of overshoots in the intraparticle concentration profiles and in the total amount adsorbed for the more weakly adsorbed component. An analytical solution valid for the case where the isotherms are rectangular is developed and found to be in good agreement with the limiting behavior of the general numerical solution of the model equations. The experimental results show that the two proteins are competitively adsorbed and that an overshoot of adsorbed cytochrome c occurs during simultaneous adsorption. Model predictions based on the assumption that the adsorption isotherms are rectangular and that lysozyme completely displaces cytochrome c are in qualitative and quantitative agreement with the experimental kinetics suggesting that the overshoot phenomena observed with multicomponent systems in these resins can be explained with a diffusion model without the need to account for flux coupling or electrophoretic contributions to transport.     

Nuclear magnetic resonance diffusion with surface relaxation in porous media

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) diffusion simulations with surface relaxation were performed numerically in unconsolidated and consolidated porous media by a random walk technique. Two uniform and nonuniform models of surface relaxation were proposed and compared. The apparent diffusion coefficient and extinction function were determined and studied in the fast, slow and intermediate diffusion regimes of relaxation. According to theoretical predictions, it was observed that the extinction function does not depend on surface relaxivity parameter rho 2 in the slow diffusion regime. The apparent diffusion coefficients are independent of rho 2 in the fast diffusion regime and tend to be superposed onto a single curve in the slow one. The evolution of the apparent diffusion coefficients is gathered by a reduced representation in the fast diffusion regime.     

A Markov model for relaxation and exchange in NMR spectroscopy

A two-state Markov noise process for lattice fluctuations and chemical exchange dynamics is used to derive a stochastic Liouville equation describing the evolution of the spin-density operator in nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Relaxation through lattice fluctuations and chemical exchange processes is incorporated into the theory at the same fundamental level, and the results are valid for all time scales provided that lattice fluctuations are much faster than chemical exchange kinetics. Time-scale separation emerges as an essential feature from the lowest-order perturbation expansion of the average resolvent in the Laplace domain.     

Frequency‐dependent NMR relaxation of liquids confined inside porous media containing an increased amount of magnetic impurities

Frequency‐dependent NMR relaxation studies have been carried out on water (polar) and cyclohexane (nonpolar) molecules confined inside porous ceramics containing variable amounts of iron oxide (III). The porous ceramics were prepared by compression of powders mixed with iron oxide followed by thermal treatment. The pore size distribution was estimated using a technique based on diffusion in internal fields that exposed a narrow distribution of macropore sizes with an average pore dimension independent of iron oxide content. The relaxation dispersion curves were obtained at room temperature using a fast field cycling NMR instrument. They display an increase of the relaxation rate proportional to the iron oxide concentration. This behavior is more prominent at low Larmor frequencies and is independent of the polar character of the confined molecules. The results reported here can be fitted well with a relaxation model considering exchange between molecules in the close vicinity of the paramagnetic centers located in the surface and bulk‐like molecules inside the pores. This model allows the extraction of the transverse diffusional correlation time that can be related to the polar character of the confined molecules. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mutual viscosity and NMR spin-lattice relaxation time in some benzoic acids

Experimental values of the NMR spin-lattice relaxation time (T ₁) of o-aminobenzoic acid, p-aminobenzoic acid, o-chlorobenzoic acid, p-chlorobenzoic acid and 2,4-dinitrobenzoic acid and mutual viscosity (η₁₂) of o-chlorobenzoic acid, m-chlorobenzoic acid and p-chlorobenzoic acid have been reported. The experimental values of T ₁ have been correlated with the calculated value of T ₁ obtained using different equations of dielectric relaxation time (τ). It is concluded from this comparative study that Murty's equation is a better representation of the dielectric relaxation phenomenon. It is also concluded that the mutual viscosity (η₁₂) is a better substitute for the resistance to the rotation of the individual solute molecule.     

Silicon-29 NMR studies of polymethylhydrosiloxanes: Spin-lattice relaxation time (T1) measurements

²⁹Si NMR spectra of polymethylhydrosiloxanes, Me₃SiO[MeHSiO]_nSiMe₃ from n = 3 to 8 and 35, have been determined. Both chemical shifts and spin-lattice relaxation times (T₁) have been measured. The stereochemistry at the adjacent chiral MeHSiO unit influences the nearest neighbor ²⁹Si chemical shift. The effect of chain length and position of MeHSiO units on T₁ values for Me₃SiO[MeHSiO]_nSiMe₃ systems are discussed.     

NMR spectroscopic characterization of millisecond protein folding by transverse relaxation dispersion measurements

The cold shock protein CspB adopts its native and functional tertiary structure on the millisecond time scale. We employed transverse relaxation NMR methods, which allow a quantitative measurement of the cooperativity of this fast folding reaction on a residue basis. Thereby, chemical exchange contributions to the transverse relaxation rate (R(2)) were observed for every residue of CspB verifying the potential of this method to identify not only local dynamics but also to characterize global events. Toward this end, the homogeneity of the transition state of folding was probed by comparing Chevron plots (i.e., dependence of the apparent folding rate on the denaturant concentration) determined by stopped-flow fluorescence with Chevron plots of six residues acquired by R(2) dispersion experiments. The coinciding results obtained for probes at different locations in the three-dimensional structure of CspB indicate the ability and significance of transverse relaxation NMR to determine Chevron plots on a residue-by-residue basis providing detailed insights on the nature of the transition state of folding.     

Biosynthetic 13C labeling of aromatic side chains in proteins for NMR relaxation measurements

Site-specific 13C labeling offers a desirable means of eliminating unwanted relaxation pathways and coherent magnetization transfer in NMR relaxation experiments. Here we use [1-13C]-glucose as the sole carbon source in the growth media for protein overexpression in Escherichia coli. The approach results in specific incorporation of 13C at isolated positions in the side chains of aromatic amino acids, which greatly simplifies the measurements and interpretation of 13C relaxation rates in these spin systems. The method is well suited for characterization of chemical exchange by CPMG or spin-lock relaxation methods. We validated the method by acquiring 13C rotating-frame relaxation dispersion data on the E140Q mutant of the C-terminal domain of calmodulin, which reveal conformational exchange dynamics with a time constant of 71 mus for Y138.     

Temperature dependence of the proton exchange time in pure water by NMR

The temperature dependence of the proton spin-spin relaxation rate 1/T₃ on 180° pulse spacing (Meiboom dispersion) was measured for pure water enriched at 4% ¹⁷O to obtain the proton exchange time. At 58°C, the dispersion of the proton spin-lattice relaxation in the rotating frame (T_1ρ) was shown to be explained by a comparable proton exchange time.     

Internal motion in 1-methylnaphthalene. A variable temperature NMR study using C and H spin—lattice relaxation time measurements

¹³C nuclear spin—lattice relaxation times of 1-methylnaphthalene and ²H nuclear spin—lattice relaxation times of the perdeuterated species, both in deuterochloroform solutions, were measured at several different temperatures. The effects of isotopic substitution on the effective correlation times are discussed. The Woessner approach to extracting the internal jump rates of the CH₃ and CD₃ groups from these relaxation times was used. Activation energies for the internal motions were calculated by fitting the temperature dependent jump rates to an Arrhenius type expression. The differences between the activation energies of the two isotopic species are discussed.     

Quantification of the velocity acceleration factor for colloidal transport in porous media using NMR

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques were used to quantify the transport of colloids through porous media. This was achieved via the application of chemically-resolved pulsed field gradient (PFG) methods, hence probing the displacement (probability distribution) propagators of both the colloidal and continuous liquid phase. A dilute decane-in-water emulsion was used with flow through a random glass sphere packing being considered. The acquired propagators allowed for quantification of both colloidal entrapment and the velocities of both the continuous phase and the flowing colloids. The flowing colloids were found to experience a velocity acceleration factor (VAF) increase of 1.08 relative to the continuous phase. This was found to be independent of displacement observation time or flowrate. It was speculated to be a consequence of radial exclusion due to the finite size of the colloids. Simulations of the colloidal transport were also performed using a lattice Boltzmann platform and a Lagrangian particle-tracking algorithm which incorporated colloidal radial exclusion. Reasonable agreement was observed between the simulation and the experimental data.     

Changes in calmodulin main-chain dynamics upon ligand binding revealed by cross-correlated NMR relaxation measurements

The fast dynamics of protein backbones are often investigated by nuclear magnetic relaxation experiments that report on the degree of spatial restriction of the amide bond vector. By comparing calmodulin in the peptide-bound and peptide-free states with these classical methods, we observe little difference in the dynamics of the polypeptide main chain (average order parameter decrease of 0.01 unit upon binding). However, when using NMR methods that monitor the mobility of the CO-Calpha bond vector, we reveal a significant reduction of dynamics of the protein main chain (average order parameter decrease of 0.048 units). Previous investigations have suggested that the side-chain dynamics is reduced by an average of 0.07 order parameter units upon ligand binding (Lee, A. L.; Kinnear, S. A.; Wand, A. J. Nat. Struct. Biol. 2000, 7, 72-77). The current findings suggest that the change of the CO-Calpha bond vector dynamics is intermediate between the changes in NH and side-chain dynamics and report a previously undetected loss of main-chain entropy. Weak site-to-site correlations between the different motional indicators are also observed.     

Enhancing signal-to-noise ratio and resolution in low-field NMR relaxation measurements using post-acquisition digital filters

The traditional way to enhance signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) signals is to increase the number of scans. However, this procedure increases the measuring time that can be prohibitive for some applications. Therefore, we have tested the use of several post-acquisition digital filters to enhance SNR up to one order of magnitude in time domain NMR (TD-NMR) relaxation measurements. The procedures were studied using continuous wave free precession (CWFP-T₁) signals, acquired with very low flip angles that contain six times more noise than the Carr–Purcell–Meiboom–Gill (CPMG) signal of the same sample and experimental time. Linear (LI) and logarithmic (LO) data compression, low-pass infinity impulse response (LP), Savitzky–Golay (SG), and wavelet transform (WA) post-acquisition filters enhanced the SNR of the CWFP-T₁ signals by at least six times. The best filters were LO, SG, and WA that have high enhancement in SNR without significant distortions in the ILT relaxation distribution data. Therefore, it was demonstrated that these post-acquisition digital filters could be a useful way to denoise CWFP-T₁, as well as CPMG noisy signals, and consequently reducing the experimental time. It was also demonstrated that filtered CWFP-T₁ method has the potential to be a rapid and nondestructive method to measure fat content in beef and certainly in other meat samples.     

An explanation of anomalous results in the NMR relaxation of a probe in liquid crystalline media

The methyl-¹³C and the ¹⁴N longitudinal relaxation times in acetonitrile, dissolved in a thermotropic liquid crystal are analyzed with a slowly relaxing local structure model. This model gives rise to a frequency dependent relaxation mechanism which explains the relatively short ¹⁴N relaxation time compared to the methyl-¹³C relaxation time.     

Validation of the estimation of oxidation induction time from non-isothermal DSC measurements

In this paper, correctness of the method for estimation of the oxidation induction time (OIT) from a set of non-isothermal DSC measurements is verified for two samples of sunflower oil in the temperature range of 110–160 °C. It can be concluded on the basis of root-mean-square deviations between the experimental and predicted values of OIT in the high-temperature region (above 110 °C) that both the Arrhenius and non-Arrhenian models lead to a very good agreement of the calculated values of OIT with the experimental ones without any statistically significant bias. Moreover, the uncertainties in the predicted values of OIT are practically identical for all three models applied.