High-field NMR using resistive and hybrid magnets

Resistive and resistive-superconducting hybrid magnets can generate dc magnetic fields much higher than conventional superconducting NMR magnets but the field spatial homogeneity and temporal stability are usually not sufficient for high-resolution NMR experiments. Hardware and technique development addressing these issues are presented for high-resolution NMR at magnetic fields up to 40T. Passive ferromagnetic shimming and magic-angle spinning are used effectively to reduce the broadening from inhomogeneous magnetic field. A phase correction technique based on simultaneous heteronuclear detection is developed to compensate magnetic field fluctuations to achieve high spectral resolution.     

Fast high-resolution nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy through indirect zero-quantum coherence detection in inhomogeneous fields

In many cases, high-resolution nuclear magnetic resonance （NMR） spectra are virtually impossible to obtain by con- ventional nuclear magnetic resonance methods because of inhomogeneity of magnetic field and inherent heterogeneity of sample. Although conventional intramolecular zero-quantum coherence （ZQC） can be used to obtain high-resolution spectrum in inhomogeneous field, the acquisition takes rather long time. In this paper, a spatially encoded intramolecular ZQC technique is proposed to fast acquire high-resolution NMR spectrum in inhomogeneous field. For the first time, the gradient-driven decoding technique is employed to selectively acquire intramolecular ZQC signals. Theoretical analyses and experimental observations demonstrate that high-resolution NMR spectral information can be retrieved within several scans even when the field inhomogeneity is severe enough to erase most spectral information. This work provides a new way to enhance the acquisition efficiency of high-resolution intramolecular ZQC spectroscopy in inhomogeneous fields.     

High resolution NMR spectroscopy of rat brain in vivo through indirect zero-quantum-coherence detection

The time evolution of zero-quantum-coherences (ZQCs) is insensitive to magnetic field inhomogeneity. Using a 2D indirect ZQC detection method it is shown that high-resolution (1)H NMR spectra can be obtained from rat brain in vivo at 11.74T that are immune to magnetic field inhomogeneity. Simulations based on the density matrix formalism, as well as in vitro measurements are used to demonstrate the features of 2D ZQC NMR spectra. Unique spectral information which is normally not directly available from regular (1)H NMR spectra can be extracted and used for compound identification or improved prior knowledge during spectral fitting.     

Advances in high-resolution nuclear magnetic resonance methods in inhomogeneous magnetic fields using intermolecular multiple quantum coherences

Strong and extremely homogeneous static magnetic field is usually required for high-resolution nu-clear magnetic resonance (NMR). However, in the cases of in vivo and so on, the magnetic field inho-mogeneity owing to magnetic susceptibility variation in samples is unavoidable and hard to eliminate by conventional methods such as shimming. Recently, intermolecular multiple quantum coherences (iMQCs) have been employed to eliminate inhomogeneous broadening and obtain high-resolution NMR spectra, especially for in vivo samples. Compared to other high-resolution NMR methods, iMQC method exhibits its unique feature and advantage. It simultaneously holds information of chemical shifts, multiplet structures, coupling constants, and relative peak areas. All the information is often used to analyze and characterize molecular structures in conventional one-dimensional NMR spec-troscopy. In this work, recent technical developments including our results in this field are summarized; the high-resolution mechanism is analyzed and comparison with other methods based on interactions between spins is made; comments on the current situation and outlook on the research directions are also made.     

液相电化学-核磁共振联用技术及其应用

原位电化学-核磁共振(EC-NMR)是一种具有良好应用前景的原位谱学方法,可以用于微观层次和分子水平研究电化学吸附、催化的过程和机理.作者综述了近年来发展起来的各种流动式和静态式液相EC-NMR联用技术,简要分析了电解池构造以及与EC-NMR装置联用时NMR谱线的特征.通过比较几种常用方法的优缺点,归纳了设计原位EC-...     

不均匀场下空间编码超快速高分辨NMR研究进展

二维核磁共振(2D NMR)的提出和发展,为NMR技术的研究和应用提供了广阔的空间. 然而当样品或磁场本身不均匀时,高分辨的2D NMR谱难以获得. 此外,常规2D NMR实验通常需要长的采样时间. 空间编码超快速采样方法利用空间编码技术,只需单次扫描即可获得2D甚至多维NMR谱,极大地缩短了采样时间. 目前相位补偿、相干转移和分子间多量子相干等技术与空间编码技术相结合,已成功实现不均匀场下超快速获得高分辨NMR谱. 该文对不均匀场下空间编码超快速NMR方法进行了介绍,对其未来发展进行了展望.     

Automated Signal Detection as Tool to Evaluate Magnetic Field Homogeneity from Fourier Transformed Proton NMR Spectra

Off line analysis of proton nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra by computerized peak detection is used to determine the shim quality from Fourier transformed spectra. The method is designed to analyze spectra independently from any further information about the measurement. For this purpose, the number of maxima in a spectral region is determined and compared to the number of peaks identified by an automatic routine utilizing a curvature-based method. The resulting “shim quality quotient” represents a good indicator for the magnetic field homogeneity present during the measurement. This method can be applied to separated single signals as well as to entire spectral regions. Hence, its brought use as tool in automatic interpretation of NMR spectra is possible. An example is shown for an in situ proton NMR measurement of glucose mutarotation.     

NMR in rotating magnetic fields: magic-angle field spinning

Magic-angle sample spinning is one of the cornerstones in high-resolution NMR of solid and semisolid materials. The technique enhances spectral resolution by averaging away rank 2 anisotropic spin interactions, thereby producing isotropic-like spectra with resolved chemical shifts and scalar couplings. In principle, it should be possible to induce similar effects in a static sample if the direction of the magnetic field is varied (e.g., magic-angle rotation of the B0 field). Here we will review some recent experimental results that show progress toward this goal. Also, we will explore some alternative approaches that may enable the recovery of spectral resolution in cases where the field is rotating off the magic angle. Such a possibility could help mitigate the technical problems that render difficult the practical implementation of this method at moderately strong magnetic fields.     

High-resolution NMR with resistive and hybrid magnets: deconvolution using a field-fluctuation signal

A method for compensating effect of field fluctuation is examined to attain high-resolution NMR spectra with resistive and hybrid magnets. In this method, time dependence of electromotive force induced for a pickup coil attached near a sample is measured synchronously with acquisition of NMR. Observed voltage across the pickup coil is converted to field fluctuation data, which is used to deconvolute NMR signals. The feasibility of the method is studied by (79)Br MAS NMR of KBr under a 30T magnetic field of a hybrid magnet. Twenty single-scan NMR signals were accumulated after the manipulation, resulting in a high-resolution NMR spectrum.     

Compensation of effect of field instability by reference deconvolution with phase reconstruction

A compensation method based on reference deconvolution is developed to obtain high-resolution NMR spectra under an unstable magnetic field. It is shown that the applicability of the original deconvolution method is limited for small fluctuation, and a process what may be called phase reconstruction is proposed to compensate large field fluctuation. We demonstrate the method using a probe with a coil that can generate a fluctuation field artificially. A high-resolution 1H NMR spectrum of ethylbenzene was obtained under the unstable field after compensation with this method.     

Spatially encoded pulse sequences for the acquisition of high resolution NMR spectra in inhomogeneous fields

We have recently proposed a protocol for retrieving nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra based on a spatially-dependent encoding of the MR interactions. It has also been shown that the spatial selectivity with which spins are manipulated during such encoding opens up new avenues towards the removal of magnetic field inhomogeneities; not by demanding extreme Bo field uniformities, but rather by compensating for the dephasing effects introduced by the field distribution at a radiofrequency excitation and/or refocusing level. The present study discusses in further detail a number of strategies deriving from this principle, geared at acquiring both uni- as well as multi-dimensional spectroscopic data at high resolution conditions. Different variants are presented, tailored according to the relative sensitivity and chemical nature of the spin system being explored. In particular a simple multi-scan experiment is discussed capable of affording substantial improvements in the spectral resolution, at nearly no sensitivity or scaling penalties. This new compensation scheme is therefore well-suited for the collection of high-resolution data in low-field systems possessing limited signal-to-noise ratios, where magnetic field heterogeneities might present a serious obstacle. Potential areas of applications of these techniques include high-field in vivo NMR studies in regions near tissue/air interfaces, clinical low field MR spectroscopy on relatively large off-center volumes difficult to shim, and ex situ NMR. The principles of the different compensation methods are reviewed and experimentally demonstrated for one-dimensional inhomogeneities; further improvements and extensions are briefly discussed.     

Single-sided sensor for high-resolution NMR spectroscopy

The unavoidable spatial inhomogeneity of the static magnetic field generated by open sensors has precluded their use for high-resolution NMR spectroscopy. In fact, this application was deemed impossible because these field variations are usually orders of magnitude larger than those created by the microscopic structure of the molecules to be detected. Recently, chemical shift resolved NMR spectra were observed for the first time outside a portable single-sided magnet by implementing a method that exploits inhomogeneities in the rf field designed to reproduce variations of the static magnetic field. In this communication, we describe in detail the magnet system built from permanent magnets as well as the rf coil geometry used to compensate the static field variations.     

A practical and flexible implementation of 3D MRI in the Earth's magnetic field

The Earth's magnetic field, though weak, is appealing for NMR applications because it is highly homogeneous, globally available and free. However, the practicality of Earth's field NMR (EFNMR) has long been limited by the need to perform experiments in outdoor locations where the local field homogeneity is not disrupted by ferrous or magnetic objects and where ultra-low frequency (ULF) noise sources are at a minimum. Herein we present a flexible and practical implementation of MRI in the Earth's magnetic field that demonstrates that EFNMR is not as difficult as it was previously thought to be. In this implementation, pre-polarization and ULF noise shielding, achieved using a crude electromagnet, are used to significantly improve signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) even in relatively noisy environments. A three axis gradient coil set, in addition to providing imaging gradients, is used to provide first-order shims such that sub-hertz linewidths can routinely be achieved, even in locations of significant local field inhomogeneity such as indoor scientific laboratories. Temporal fluctuations in the magnitude of the Earth's magnetic field are measured and a regime found within which these variations in Larmor frequency produce no observable artefacts in reconstructed images.     

Imaged deconvolution: a method for extracting high-resolution NMR spectra from inhomogeneous fields

We present a novel method for obtaining high resolution NMR spectra in the presence of grossly inhomogeneous magnetic fields, such as those encountered in one-sided access NMR. Our method combines the well-known principle of reference deconvolution with NMR imaging in order to resolve spectral features with frequency resolution orders of magnitude smaller than the prevailing line-broadening due to field inhomogeneity. We demonstrate that, in cases of inhomogeneous field line-broadening more than an order of magnitude larger than the spectral features to be resolved, rather than performing reference deconvolution on the sample as a whole, it is more favourable in terms of SNR to divide the target region of a sample into smaller sub-regions, by means of chemical shift imaging, and then to perform reference deconvolution on the individual sub-region spectra, finally summing the results In this way, significant resolution enhancements can be obtained in the presence of severe magnetic field inhomogeneity without an unacceptable loss in SNR.     

High-resolution, >1 GHz NMR in unstable magnetic fields

Resistive or hybrid magnets can achieve substantially higher fields than those available in superconducting magnets, but their spatial homogeneity and temporal stability are unacceptable for high-resolution NMR. We show that modern stabilization and shimming technology, combined with detection of intermolecular zero-quantum coherences (iZQCs), can remove almost all of the effects of inhomogeneity and drifts, while retaining chemical shift differences and J couplings. In a 25-T electromagnet (1 kHz/s drift, 3 kHz linewidth over 1 cm(3)), iZQC detection removes >99% of the remaining inhomogeneity, to generate the first high-resolution liquid-state NMR spectra acquired at >1 GHz.     

高性能核磁共振弛豫分析仪匀场系统的设计与实现

磁场的高均匀性是高性能核磁共振弛豫分析仪实现短弛豫时间样品和微弱信号核磁共振（NMR）检测的基本保障.该文以0.45 T双极型永磁体作为设计核心部件,在大范围磁体空间-25.4 mm球空间（DSV）内,基于目标场法设计了X、Y、Z、XY、XZ、YZ、Z²共7组有源匀场线圈,根据线圈供电要求,设计了可编程恒流电源,搭建了可用于高性能核磁共振弛豫分析仪磁体的有源匀场系统,介绍了系统的基本结构、设计过程及匀场方法.实验测试结果验证了大范围磁体空间内该匀场系统的实用性.     

Planar microcoil-based microfluidic NMR probes

Microfabricated small-volume NMR probes consisting of electroplated planar microcoils integrated on a glass substrate with etched microfluidic channels are fabricated and tested. 1H NMR spectra are acquired at 300 MHz with three different probes having observed sample volumes of respectively 30, 120, and 470 nL. The achieved sensitivity enables acquisition of an 1H spectrum of 160 microg sucrose in D2O, corresponding to a proof-of-concept for on-chip NMR spectroscopy. Increase of mass-sensitivity with coil diameter reduction is demonstrated experimentally for planar microcoils. Models that enable quantitative prediction of the signal-to-noise ratio and of the influence of microfluidic channel geometry on spectral resolution are presented and successfully compared to the experimental data. The main factor presently limiting sensitivity for high-resolution applications is identified as being probe-induced static magnetic field distortions. Finally, based on the presented model and measured data, future performance of planar microcoil-based microfluidic NMR probes is extrapolated and discussed.     

Field-cycled PEDRI imaging of free radicals with detection at 450 mT

This paper describes the design, construction and use of a field-cycled proton-electron double-resonance imaging (FC-PEDRI) system for the detection and imaging of free radicals. The unique feature of this imager is its use of a 450-mT detection magnetic field in order to achieve good image quality and sensitivity. The detection magnetic field is provided by a superconducting magnet, giving high stability and homogeneity. Field cycling is implemented by switching on and off the current in an internal, coaxial, resistive secondary magnet that partially cancels the superconducting magnet's field at the sample; the secondary magnet is actively shielded to avoid eddy currents. EPR irradiation takes place at approximately 5 mT, following which the field is switched to 450 mT in 40 ms for NMR signal detection. Full details of the imager's subsystems are given, and experiments to image the distribution of stable free radical contrast agents in phantoms and in anesthetized rats are described.     

不均匀场下基于分子间双量子相干核磁共振技术的果肉检测

核磁共振（NMR）谱图可在不破坏生物样品的状态下提供组织成分组成及其含量的信息,已被广泛应用于生物、医学和食品检测等领域.NMR谱图分辨率越高,提供的与组织成分相关的信息越丰富、越准确,也越有利于未知成分的定性和定量分析.传统的高分辨NMR谱图通常要在均匀磁场下采集.但在实际应用中,均匀的磁场较难获得.这就使得我们采集的NMR谱图的分辨率,以及由此获得的生物组织成分组成和含量等信息的准确性受到影响.源于远程偶极相互作用的分子间双量子相干（iDQC）技术对磁场均匀度不敏感,可在不均匀场下获得高分辨率NMR谱图.本文采用基于iDQC技术的IDEAL-Ⅱ序列对甲基丙烯酸丁酯、蕃茄和西瓜三种样品进行了NMR实验,结果证明基于iDQC技术在不均匀场下获得水果的高分辨NMR谱图是可行的,这对食品科学以及食品检测具有积极的意义.     

High-resolution study of nuclear magnetic relaxation dispersion of purine nucleotides: effects of spin-spin coupling

By combining magnetic field cycling in the range from 0.1mT to 7T with high-resolution NMR detection the T(1) relaxation dispersion (nuclear magnetic relaxation dispersion (NMRD)) of protons in the nucleotides adenosine mono-phosphate and guanosine mono-phosphate was measured in a site-specific way. While at high field the individual spins have distinctly different T(1) times, their scalar spin-spin interaction fulfills at low field the condition of strong coupling and leads to convergence of their T(1) dispersion curves. In addition, the spin-spin coupling can lead to oscillatory components in the relaxation kinetics traceable to a coupling between spin polarization and coherence in the relaxation process. As a consequence the NMRD curves do not directly reflect the spectral density function of the motional processes, but the effects of motion and spin coupling must be separated for a reliable evaluation. A theoretical approach is described allowing such an analysis.