Advanced solvent signal suppression for the acquisition of 1D and 2D NMR spectra of Scotch Whisky

A simple and robust solvent suppression technique that enables acquisition of high‐quality 1D ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra of alcoholic beverages on cryoprobe instruments was developed and applied to acquire NMR spectra of Scotch Whisky. The method uses 3 channels to suppress signals of water and ethanol, including those of ¹³C satellites of ethanol. It is executed in automation allowing high throughput investigations of alcoholic beverages. On the basis of the well‐established 1D nuclear Overhauser spectroscopy (NOESY) solvent suppression technique, this method suppresses the solvent at the beginning of the pulse sequence, producing pure phase signals minimally affected by the relaxation. The developed solvent suppression procedure was integrated into several homocorrelated and heterocorrelated 2D NMR experiments, including 2D correlation spectroscopy (COSY), 2D total correlation spectroscopy (TOCSY), 2D band‐selective TOCSY, 2D J‐resolved spectroscopy, 2D ¹H, ¹³C heteronuclear single‐quantum correlation spectroscopy (HSQC), 2D ¹H, ¹³C HSQC‐TOCSY, and 2D ¹H, ¹³C heteronuclear multiple‐bond correlation spectroscopy (HMBC). A 1D chemical‐shift‐selective TOCSY experiments was also modified. The wealth of information obtained by these experiments will assist in NMR structure elucidation of Scotch Whisky congeners and generally the composition of alcoholic beverages at the molecular level.     

Progress in Hyperpolarized Ultrafast 2D NMR Spectroscopy

An important development in the field of NMR spectroscopy has been the advent of hyperpolarization approaches, capable of yielding nuclear spin states whose value exceeds by orders‐of‐magnitude what even the highest‐field spectrometers can afford under Boltzmann equilibrium. Included among these methods is an ex situ dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) approach, which yields liquid‐phase samples possessing spin polarizations of up to 50 %. Although capable of providing an NMR sensitivity equivalent to the averaging of about 1 000 000 scans, this methodology is constrained to extract its “superspectrum” within a single—or at most a few—transients. This makes it a poor starting point for conventional 2D NMR acquisition experiments, which require a large number of scans that are identical to one another except for the increment of a certain t₁ delay. It has been recently suggested that by merging this ex situ DNP approach with spatially encoded “ultrafast” methods, a suitable starting point could arise for the acquisition of 2D spectra on hyperpolarized liquids. Herein, we describe the experimental principles, potential features, and current limitations of such integration between the two methodologies. For a variety of small molecules, these new hyperpolarized ultrafast experiments can, for equivalent overall durations, provide heteronuclear correlation spectra at significantly lower concentrations than those currently achievable by conventional 2D NMR acquisitions. A variety of challenges still remain to be solved before bringing the full potential of this new integrated 2D NMR approach to fruition; these outstanding issues are discussed.     

Ultrafast Single-Scan 2D NMR Spectroscopic Detection of a PHIP-Hyperpolarized Protease Inhibitor

Two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy is one of the most important spectroscopic tools for the investigation of biological macromolecules. However, due to the low sensitivity of NMR spectroscopy, it takes usually from several minutes to many hours to record such spectra. Here, the possibility of detecting a bioactive derivative of the sunflower trypsin inhibitor-1 (SFTI-1), a tetradecapeptide, by combining parahydrogen-induced polarization (PHIP) and ultrafast 2D NMR spectroscopy is shown. The PHIP activity of the inhibitor was achieved by labeling with O-propargyl-l -tyrosine. In 1D PHIP experiments a signal enhancement of a factor of approximately 1200 compared to standard NMR was found. This enhancement permits measurement of 2D NMR correlation spectra of low-concentrated SFTI-1 in less than 10 seconds, employing ultrafast single-scan 2D NMR detection. As experimental examples PHIP-assisted ultrafast single-scan TOCSY spectra of SFTI-1 are shown.     

Structural analyses of mannose pentasaccharide of high mannose type oligosaccharides by 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy

NMR spectroscopy is a very important and useful method for the structural analysis of oligosaccharides, despite its low sensitivity. We first applied conventional measuring methods, 2D DQF COSY, ¹H–¹³C HSQC, and ¹H–¹³C HMBC, and also the Double Pulsed Field Gradient Spin Echo (DPFGSE)‐TOCSY and DPFGSE‐NOESY/ROESY techniques to analyze a branched mannose pentasaccharide as a model of high mannose type N‐glycans in natural abundance. The NMR spectra of the model compound are very complex and difficult to analyze owing to overlapping signals. The superior selective irradiation capability of the DPFGSE technique is useful for fine structural and conformational analyses of such complex oligosaccharides. We here introduce a novel technique called DPFGSE‐Double‐Selective Population Transfer (SPT)‐Difference and DPFGSE‐NOE/ROE‐SPT‐Difference spectroscopy. The DPFGSE‐Double‐SPT‐Difference method involves irradiation of two peaks from one proton and the subtraction of higher and lower peaks from each spectrum. The DPFGSE‐NOE/ROE‐SPT‐Difference method involves the transfer of the magnetization polarized by NOE/ROE from the nuclei to the spin‐coupled nuclei through scalar spin–spin interaction using the SPT method. Even if the signals in the NMR spectra overlap, each signal can be accurately assigned. In particular, DPFGSE‐NOE/ROE‐SPT‐Difference is very useful for identifying sugar connectivity. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

N‐Alkenyl amide rotational barriers by 2D EXSY NMR

The rotational barriers of some N‐alkenylamides were measured by 2D exchange spectroscopy (2D EXSY) NMR techniques. It was found that the conjugated double bond lowers E,Z barriers by 2.6 kJ mol^?1. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

New developments in the spatial encoding of spin interactions for single‐scan 2D NMR

Single‐scan 2D NMR relies on a spatial axis for encoding the indirect‐domain internal spin interactions. Various strategies have been demonstrated for fulfilling the needs underlying this procedure. All such schemes use gradient‐echoed sequences that leave at their conclusion solely the effects of the internal interactions along the indirect domain; they also include a real‐time scheme that though simple, yields in general mixed‐phase line shapes. The present paper introduces two new proposals geared up for easing the spatial encoding underlying single‐scan 2D NMR methodologies. One of these is capable of delivering dispersive‐free peaks along the indirect domain, and thereby purely‐absorptive 2D line shapes, in amplitude‐encoded experiments. The other demonstrates for the first time, the possibility to obtain single‐scan 2D spectra without echoing the effects of the encoding gradient–simply by applying a single‐pulse frequency sweep to encode the interactions. Both of these modes are compatible with homo‐ and heteronuclear correlations, and exhibit a number of complementary features vis‐à‐vis encoding alternatives that have so far been presented. The overall principles underlying these new spatially encoding protocols are derived, and their performance demonstrated with single‐scan 2D NMR TOCSY and HSQC experiments on model compounds. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Structure determination of Aervins A‐D,new coumaronochromone analogues from Aerva persica,by 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy

Aervins A‐D (1‐4), four new coumaronochromone analogues have been isolated from the CHCl₃‐soluble fraction of the MeOH extract of the whole plant of Aerva persica. Their structures were assigned based on ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR spectra, DEPT, and by 2DNMR experiments. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spectral study of a new dihydroisocoumarin

A novel dihydroisocoumarin, 3,4‐dihydro‐6,8‐dihydroxy‐3‐(2′‐acetyl‐3′‐hydroxy‐5′‐methoxy)methyl‐1H‐[2]benzopyran‐1‐one, was isolated from the chloroform extract of the sap of the traditional herb Aloe vera. Its structure was determined by high‐resolution negative fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry (MS), 2D NMR spectroscopy and x‐ray crystallography. The molecular structure was elucidated by 2D NMR analysis. The complete assignment of the ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectra of this compound was performed by using ¹H detected one‐bond heteronuclear multiple quantum correlation (HMQC) and long‐range (two and three bonds) heteronuclear multiple quantum bond correlation (HMBC) experiments. Detailed analyses of the one‐ and two‐dimensional NMR techniques are presented in additional to the spectral properties (MS, IR and UV). Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Study of near‐symmetric cyclodextrins by compressed sensing 2D NMR

The compressed sensing NMR (CS‐NMR) is an approach to processing of nonuniformly sampled NMR data. Its idea is to introduce minimal l_p‐norm (0 < p ≤ 1) constraint to a penalty function used in a reconstruction algorithm. Here, we demonstrate that 2D CS‐NMR spectra allow the full spectral assignment of near‐symmetric β‐cyclodextrin derivatives (mono‐modified at the C6 position). The application of CS‐NMR ensures experimental time saving and the resolution improvement, necessary because of very low chemical shift dispersion. In the overnight experimental time, the set of properly resolved 2D NMR spectra required for the unambiguous assignment of mono(6‐deoxy‐6‐(1‐1,2,3‐triazo‐4‐yl)‐1‐propane‐3‐O‐(phenyl)) β‐cyclodextrin was obtained. The highly resolved HSQC spectrum was reconstructed from 5.12% of the data. Moreover, reconstructed 2D HSQC–TOCSY spectrum yielded information about the correlations within one sugar unit, and 2D HSQC–NOESY technique allowed the sequential assignment of the glucosidic units. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Microstructural characterization of acrylonitrile/pentyl acrylate copolymers by one and 2‐D NMR spectroscopy

Acrylonitrile/pentyl acrylate (A/P) copolymers of different monomer composition were prepared by solution polymerization using benzoyl peroxide as initiator. Copolymer compositions were determined by elemental analysis and quantitative ¹³C¹H‐NMR spectroscopy. The comonomer reactivity ratios, determined by both Kelen Tudos (KT) and nonlinear error in variables (EVM) methods are r_A = 0.75 and r_p = 0.45. 2‐D heteronuclear correlation spectroscopy (HSQC) was used to simplify the complex ¹H spectra of A/P copolymers in terms of configurational and compositional sequences. The microstructure was obtained in terms of the distribution of A‐ and P‐ centered triad sequences from ¹³C¹H‐NMR spectra of the copolymers. The copolymerization mechanism was found to follow a first order Markov Model. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 37: 533–543, 1999     

Unambiguous structural characterization of hydantoin reaction products using 2D HMBC NMR spectroscopy

Data from two-dimensional (2D) NMR experiments were used to identify the reaction products resulting from the opening of pyroglutamates with isocyanates or thioisocyanates. The reaction has the potential to produce compounds that would have very similar one-dimensional proton ((1)H) or carbon-13 ((13)C) NMR spectra. Careful analysis of (1)H--(1)H COSY, (1)H--(1)H NOESY, and HMBC data, including chemical shifts and coupling constants, were used to distinguish correctly between carbamoyl-2-pyrrolidinone, hydantoin, and perhydro-1,3-diazepine-2,4-dione type structures that could result from this reaction. This work describes their preparation and subsequent identification using 2D NMR spectroscopy, and includes complete (13)C assignments of the reaction products. The 2D NMR techniques and analysis described here can be applied successfully to other synthetic reactions with the potential to produce isomeric products.     

Fast multidimensional localized parallel NMR spectroscopy for the analysis of samples

A parallel localized spectroscopy (PALSY) method is presented to speed up the acquisition of multidimensional NMR (nD) spectra. The sample is virtually divided into a discrete number of nonoverlapping slices that relax independently during consecutive scans of the experiment, affording a substantial reduction in the interscan relaxation delay and the total experiment time. PALSY was tested for the acquisition of three experiments 2D COSY, 2D DQF‐COSY and 2D TQF‐COSY in parallel, affording a time‐saving factor of 3–4. Some unique advantages are that the achievable resolution in any dimension is not compromised in any way: it uses conventional NMR data processing, it is not prone to generate spectral artifacts, and once calibrated, it can be used routinely with these and other combinations of NMR spectra. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Absolute Minimal Sampling of Homonuclear 2D NMR TOCSY Spectra for High-Throughput Applications of Complex Mixtures

Modern applications of 2D NMR spectroscopy to diagnostic screening, metabolomics, quality control, and other high-throughput applications are often limited by the time-consuming sampling requirements along the indirect time domain t₁. 2D total correlation spectroscopy (TOCSY) provides unique spin connectivity information for the analysis of a large number of compounds in complex mixtures, but standard methods typically require >100 t₁ increments for an accurate spectral reconstruction, rendering these experiments ineffective for high-throughput applications. For a complex metabolite mixture it is demonstrated that absolute minimal sampling (AMS), based on direct fitting of resonance frequencies and amplitudes in the time domain, yields an accurate spectral reconstruction of TOCSY spectra using as few as 16 t₁ points. This permits the rapid collection of homonuclear 2D NMR experiments at high resolution with measurement times that previously were only the realm of 1D experiments.     

Structure and lithium dynamics of Li2AuSn2--a ternary stannide with condensed AuSn4/2 tetrahedra

The new stannide Li₂AuSn₂ was prepared by reaction of the elements in a sealed tantalum tube in a resistance furnace at 970 K followed by annealing at 720 K for five days. Li₂AuSn₂ was investigated by X‐ray diffraction on powders and single crystals and the structure was refined from single‐crystal data: Z=4, I4₁/amd, a=455.60(7), c=1957.4(4) pm, wR2=0.0681, 278 F² values, 10 parameters. The gold atoms display a slightly distorted tetrahedral tin coordination with Au? Sn distances of 273 pm. These tetrahedra are condensed through common corners leading to the formation of two‐dimensional AuSn_4/2 layers. The latter are connected in the third dimension through Sn? Sn bonds (296 pm). The lithium atoms fill distorted hexagonal channels formed by the three‐dimensional [AuSn₂] network. Modestly small ⁷Li Knight shifts are measured by solid‐state NMR spectroscopy that are consistent with a nearly complete state of lithium ionization. The noncubic local symmetry at the tin site is reflected by a nuclear electric quadrupolar splitting in the ¹¹⁹Sn Mössbauer spectra and a small chemical shift anisotropy evident from ¹¹⁹Sn solid‐state NMR spectroscopy. Variable‐temperature static ⁷Li solid‐state NMR spectra reveal motional narrowing effects at temperatures above 200 K, revealing lithium atomic mobility on the kHz time scale. Detailed lineshape as well as temperature‐dependent spin lattice relaxation time measurements indicate an activation energy of lithium motion of 27 kJ mol^?1.     

Unequivocal total assignment of 13C and 1H NMR spectra of some pyrido[1,2‐a]pyrimidine derivatives by 2D‐NMR

We report the total assignments of the ¹³C and ¹H NMR spectra of some 4‐methyl‐2‐oxo‐(2H)‐pyrido[1,2‐a]pyrimidine and 2‐methyl‐4‐oxo‐(4H)‐pyrido[1,2‐a]pyrimidine derivatives. The products were characterized by ¹H and ¹³C NMR and reported data for similar compounds. No comparative data for the two sets of isomeric compounds with respect to ¹³C and ¹H NMR have been reported to date. We made some detailed studies of the 2D NMR spectra of these compounds and observed that assignments made for non‐protonated carbon atoms by us and those reported in the literature for similar compounds need correction. The revised assignments were made on the basis of heteronuclear single quantum correlation (HSQC) and heteronuclear multiple bond correlation (HMBC) techniques. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Probing Invisible,Excited Protein States by Non‐Uniformly Sampled Pseudo‐4D CEST Spectroscopy

Chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) NMR spectroscopy is a powerful tool for studies of slow timescale protein dynamics. Typical experiments are based on recording a large number of 2D data sets and quantifying peak intensities in each of the resulting planes. A weakness of the method is that peaks must be resolved in 2D spectra, limiting applications to relatively small proteins. Resolution is significantly improved in 3D spectra but recording uniformly sampled data is time‐prohibitive. Here we describe non‐uniformly sampled HNCO‐based pseudo‐4D CEST that provides excellent resolution in reasonable measurement times. Data analysis is done through fitting in the time domain, without the need of reconstructing the frequency dimensions, exploiting previously measured accurate peak positions in reference spectra. The methodology is demonstrated on several protein systems, including a nascent form of superoxide dismutase that is implicated in neurodegenerative disease.     

NMR spectroscopy as a tool to investigate the degradation of aromatic compounds by a Pseudomonas putida strain

Pseudomonas putida strain KT2442, harbouring the pWW0 TOL plasmid, was grown with a number of different homologous aromatic acids as carbon sources. Small samples of liquid culture supernatant were collected and directly analysed by 2D NMR spectroscopy. In all cases similar compounds with olefinic signals were observed to accumulate. To elucidate the structures of these compounds, 2D NMR experiments with 500 and 600 MHz spectrometers equipped with a CryoProbe (Bruker BioSpin) were performed on samples obtained from a culture growing on 4‐methylbenzoate and, for ¹³C spectroscopy, on ¹³C‐labelled 4‐methylbenzoate. In all cases a 1,2‐dihydroxycyclohexa‐3,5‐diene‐carboxylate derivative was identified. The use of this technique helped us to identify easily some metabolites that were released into the solution by bacteria and to follow their secretion as a function of time. The high sensitivity of the present approach allowed a clear and rapid acquisition of spectra, notwithstanding the low concentration of the compounds. The benefits of introducing the use of NMR cryoprobes to perform metabolic pathway studies is demonstrated. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stacking Structure of Confined 1‐Butanol in SBA‐15 Investigated by Solid‐State NMR Spectroscopy

Understanding the complex thermodynamic behavior of confined amphiphilic molecules in biological or mesoporous hosts requires detailed knowledge of the stacking structures. Here, we present detailed solid‐state NMR spectroscopic investigations on 1‐butanol molecules confined in the hydrophilic mesoporous SBA‐15 host. A range of NMR spectroscopic measurements comprising of ¹H spin–lattice (T₁), spin–spin (T₂) relaxation, ¹³C cross‐polarization (CP), and ¹H,¹H two‐dimensional nuclear Overhauser enhancement spectroscopy (¹H,¹H 2D NOESY) with the magic angle spinning (MAS) technique as well as static wide‐line ²H NMR spectra have been used to investigate the dynamics and to observe the stacking structure of confined 1‐butanol in SBA‐15. The results suggest that not only the molecular reorientation but also the exchange motions of confined molecules of 1‐butanol are extremely restricted in the confined space of the SBA‐15 pores. The dynamics of the confined molecules of 1‐butanol imply that the ¹H,¹H 2D NOESY should be an appropriate technique to observe the stacking structure of confined amphiphilc molecules. This study is the first to observe that a significant part of confined 1‐butanol molecules are orientated as tilted bilayered structures on the surface of the host SBA‐15 pores in a time‐average state by solid‐state NMR spectroscopy with the ¹H,¹H 2D NOESY technique.