Quenching and recoupling of echo modulations in NMR spectroscopy.

Trains of spin echoes are normally modulated by homonuclear scalar couplings. It has long been known that echo modulations are quenched when the pulse-repetition rates are much larger than the offsets of the coupling partners, because the spin systems behave as if they consisted of magnetically equivalent spins when the offsets are suppressed. This type of quenching of the echo modulations can occur when the radio-frequency (RF) pulses are ideal, that is, when they are perfectly homogeneous, properly calibrated to induce rotations through an angle, pi, and have an RF amplitude, omega(1)=-gammaB(1), that is strong compared to the largest offset, Omega(S)=omega(0S)-omega(RF), with respect to the carrier frequency. Recently, it was discovered that echo modulations can also be quenched when the RF pulses are nonideal, that is, when they are too weak to bring about an ideal rotation of the magnetization of the coupling partners, so that the effective fields associated with the RF pulses are tilted in the rotating frame. This phenomenon typically occurs when the pulse-repetition rates are much slower than the offset of the coupling partner. Under such conditions, it turns out, however, that for certain offsets, when the phase, Phi(S) (which arises from a free precession of the magnetization of the coupling partner, S, in the pulse interval, 2tau, and the pulse length, tau(pi)), approaches a multiple of 2pi, the echo modulations are restored. However, the frequencies of these echo modulations are not simply determined by the homonuclear scalar coupling, J(IS). The Fourier transforms of the echo trains (the so-called "J spectra") reveal surprising multiplet patterns, and the amplitudes of the echo modulations depend on the offsets of the coupling partners. Herein, we present a unified theory, based on an average-Hamiltonian approach, to describe these effects for two-spin systems. Experimental evidence of echo modulations in a system of two spins is presented. Experiments with three and more spins, backed up by extensive numerical simulations, will be presented elsewhere.     

Multiple refocusing in NMR spectroscopy: compensation of pulse imperfections by scalar couplings.

When applying multiple refocusing pulses to characterize the cross-correlated relaxation of heteronuclear multiple quantum coherence 2NxHx in biomolecules, the unavoidable effects of pulse imperfections are compensated by the scalar couplings between nitrogen atoms and protons. The experiment, which is useful as a tool for studying slow internal dynamics of biomolecules, greatly benefits from this compensation. The underlying effect is a manifestation of an interchange between three noncommuting components of the density operator. One perturbing Hamiltonian is counteracted by another, which leads to a nearly complete suppression of the perturbation. The effect proves to be an example of a hitherto unknown phenomenon in NMR spectroscopy.     

Transverse Relaxation of Scalar‐Coupled Protons

In a preliminary communication (B. Baishya, T. F. Segawa, G. Bodenhausen, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2009 , 131, 17538–17539), we recently demonstrated that it is possible to obtain clean echo decays of protons in biomolecules despite the presence of homonuclear scalar couplings. These unmodulated decays allow one to determine apparent transverse relaxation rates R₂^app of individual protons. Herein, we report the observation of R₂^app for three methyl protons, four amide H^N protons, and all 11 backbone H^α protons in cyclosporin A. If the proton resonances overlap, their R₂^app rates can be measured by transferring their magnetization to neighboring ¹³C nuclei, which are less prone to overlap. The R₂^app rates of protons attached to ¹³C are faster than those attached to ¹²C because of ¹³C–¹H dipolar interactions. The differences of these rates allow the determination of local correlation functions. Backbone H^N and H^α protons that have fast decay rates R₂^app also feature fast longitudinal relaxation rates R₁ and intense NOESY cross peaks that are typical of crowded environments. Variations of R₂^app rates of backbone H^α protons in similar amino acids reflect differences in local environments.     

J‐Edited Pure Shift NMR for the Facile Measurement of nJHH for Specific Protons

We report a novel 1D J‐edited pure shift NMR experiment (J‐PSHIFT) that was constructed from a pseudo 2D experiment for the direct measurement of proton–proton scalar couplings. The experiment gives homonuclear broad‐band ¹H‐decoupled ¹H NMR spectra, which provide a single peak for chemically distinct protons, and only retain the homonuclear‐scalar‐coupled doublet pattern at the chemical‐shift positions of the protons in the coupled network of a specific proton. This permits the direct and unambiguous measurement of the magnitudes of the couplings. The incorporation of a 1D selective correlation spectroscopy (COSY)/ total correlation spectroscopy (TOCSY) block in lieu of the initial selective pulse, results in the exclusive detection of the correlated spectrum of a specific proton.     

1D NMR Homodecoupled 1H Spectra with Scalar Coupling Constants from 2D NemoZS‐DIAG Experiments

A two‐dimensional liquid‐state NMR experiment cleanly separating chemical shifts and scalar couplings information is introduced. This DIAG experiment takes advantage of a drastic reduction of the spectral window in the indirect dimension to be quickly recorded and of a new non‐equidistant modulation of the selective pulse to improve the sensitivity of the broadband homodecoupling Zangger–Sterk sequence element by one order of magnitude. A simple automatic analysis results in 1D spectra displaying singlets and lists of the scalar couplings for first‐order multiplets. This facilitates the analysis of 1D spectra by resolving multiplets based on their differences in chemical shifts and coupling structures.     

Dipolar and Scalar Couplings in Solid State NMR of Quadrupolar Nuclei

Summary.  Most NMR-active nuclei found in the periodic table have a quadrupole moment. In combination with a nonsymmetric electron distribution a strong NMR-active interaction results, which very often overshadows the dipolar and scalar couplings. This article aims at reviewing how these interactions manifest themselves in quadrupolar NMR and how they can be exploited for resonance assignment and structure elucidation, in spite of the presence of a strong quadrupolar interaction. E-mail: alexej.jerschow@nyu.edu Received April 16, 2002; accepted May 15, 2002     

Indirect detection of nitrogen-14 in solid-state NMR spectroscopy.

NMR spectra of (14)N (spin I=1) are obtained by indirect detection in powders spinning at the magic angle. The method relies on the transfer of coherence from a neighboring "spy" nucleus with S=1/2, such as (13)C or (1)H, to single- or double-quantum transitions of (14)N nuclei. The transfer of coherence can occur through a combination of scalar and residual dipolar splittings (RDS); the latter are also known as second-order quadrupole-dipole cross terms. The two-dimensional NMR spectra reveal powder patterns determined by second- and third-order quadrupolar couplings. These spectra depend on the quadrupolar coupling constant C(Q) (typically a few megahertz), on the asymmetry parameter eta(Q) of the (14)N nucleus, and on the orientation of the internuclear vector r(IS) between the I ((14)N) and S (spy) nuclei with respect to the quadrupolar tensor. These parameters, which can be subject to motional averaging, can reveal valuable information about the structure and dynamics of nitrogen-containing solids. Application of this technique to various amino acids, either enriched in (13)C or with natural carbon isotope abundance, with spectra recorded at various magnetic fields, illustrates the scope of the method.     

SESAME-HSQC for simultaneous measurement of NH and CH scalar and residual dipolar couplings

We present a novel pulse sequence, SESAME-HSQC, for the simultaneous measurement of several NH and CH scalar and residual dipolar couplings in double labeled proteins. The proposed Spin-statE Selective All Multiplicity Edited (SESAME)-HSQC combines gradient selected and sensitivity enhanced (15)N- and constant-time (13)C-HSQC experiments with the recently introduced spin-state selective method (Nolis et al., J. Magn. Reson. 180 (2006) 39-50) for measuring couplings simultaneously at amide and aliphatic regions. Excellent resolution and high sensitivity is warranted by removing all coupling interactions during the indirectly detected t(1) period, and by employing pulsed field gradients for coherence selection and utilizing coherence order selective spin-state selection. The scalar and residual dipolar couplings can be readily measured from a two-dimensional (15)N/(13)C-HSQC spectrum without additional spectral crowding. SESAME-HSQC can be used for epitope mapping by observing chemical shift changes in both amide and aliphatic regions. Simultaneously, potential conversion in protein conformation can be probed by analyzing changes in residual dipolar couplings induced by ligand binding. The pulse sequence is experimentally verified with a sample of (15)N/(13)C enriched human ubiquitin. The internuclear vector directions determined from the residual dipolar couplings are found to be in excellent correlation with those predicted from ubiquitin's refined solution structure.     

HyperBIRD: A Sensitivity‐Enhanced Approach to Collecting Homonuclear‐Decoupled Proton NMR Spectra

Samples prepared following dissolution dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) enable the detection of NMR spectra from low‐γ nuclei with outstanding sensitivity, yet have limited use for the enhancement of abundant species like ¹H nuclei. Small‐ and intermediate‐sized molecules, however, show strong heteronuclear cross‐relaxation effects: spontaneous processes with an inherent isotopic selectivity, whereby only the ¹³C‐bonded protons receive a polarization enhancement. These effects are here combined with a recently developed method that delivers homonuclear‐decoupled ¹H spectra in natural abundance samples based on heteronuclear couplings to these same, ¹³C‐bonded nuclei. This results in the HyperBIRD methodology; a single‐shot combination of these two effects that can simultaneously simplify and resolve complex, congested ¹H NMR spectra with many overlapping spin multiplets, while achieving 50–100 times sensitivity enhancements over conventional thermal counterparts.