Determination of (1)H homonuclear scalar couplings in unlabeled carbohydrates

The scarcity of structural information on carbohydrates results from combined difficulties to crystallize and the limitations in NMR analysis. Current methods for determining basic NMR parameters such as (1)H homonuclear scalar couplings are very limited, especially for large molecules such as polysaccharides, oligonucleotides, and the carbohydrate part of glycoproteins. In this paper, a NMR experiment for the determination of endocyclic (1)H homonuclear scalar couplings ((3)J(HH)) in unlabeled carbohydrates is presented. In addition to scalar couplings, cross-correlated dipole-dipole relaxation rates were measured for large polysaccharides. The measurement of all endocyclic homonuclear coupling constants within monosaccharide units is presented for lactose, a model disaccharide, and for a natural-abundance 2 MDa bacterial polysaccharide excreted by Streptococcus thermophilus Sfi39.     

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.     

Assignment and conformational investigation of asymmetric phenylindenylidene ruthenium complexes bearing N,O‐bidentate ligands

The NMR conformational study of three asymmetric phenylindenylidene ruthenium complexes 4.1–4.3, is presented. Complete ¹H and ¹³C assignments could be obtained for 4.1–4.3 in benzene solution from multiple 2D homonuclear and heteronuclear NMR techniques. Our NMR analysis shows that each complex exists as a 55:45 mixture of two rotational isomers in slow exchange on the NMR chemical shift timescale. They are shown to be related by a 180° flip of the indenylidene ligand along the Ru?CR bond. Both rotational isomers can be discriminated by means of NOEs contacts between the various ligands coordinating to the Ru. By matching these stereospecific assignments to the chemical shift, a chemical shift based fingerprint of the isomers that may allow straightforward assignment of future asymmetric phenylindenylidene ruthenium complexes is proposed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A simple molecule with a complex crystal structure: interplay of 31P solid-state NMR spectroscopy and single-crystal x-ray diffraction in the structure determination of a ruthenium diphosphine diamine complex

A comprehensive 31P solid-state NMR study of Ru(eta1-Ph2PCH2CH2OCH3)2(eta2-en)Cl2 (en = ethylenediamine) (1), by 1D (contact time variation, inversion-recovery, SPARTAN) and 2D techniques (homonuclear J-resolved, SECSY) indicated that the crystal structure of 1 should be complex. The single-crystal x-ray structure determination confirmed the presence of eight independent molecules in the asymmetric unit, with 31P isotropic chemical shifts in the range 27.3-40.1 ppm, while the spans of the phosphorus chemical shift tensors are of the order of 170 ppm. Based on unique structural features and NMR data, one molecule has been tentatively assigned.     

Quantitative 2D HSQC NMR determination of polymer structures by selecting suitable internal standard references

A new analytical method based on the 2D HSQC NMR sequence is presented, which can be applied for quantitative structural determination of complicated polymers. The influence of T1 and T2 relaxations, off-resonance effects, coupling constants and homonuclear couplings are discussed. It was found that the T2 values measured on polymeric samples with the conventional HSQC-CPMG sequence could not be used to correct the errors caused by T2 relaxations during the polarization transfer delay. A unique way of selecting the proper internal standard reference signal(s) is therefore proposed to eliminate the major errors caused by T2 relaxations, resonance offsets, coupling constant deviations and homonuclear couplings. Two polymer samples, a cellulose triacetate and an acetylated lignin, have been used to illustrate the principles. The methodology developed in this work is robust to instrument miss-setting and it can find wide-spread applications in areas where a quantitative analysis of structurally complicated polymers is necessary.     

Spatial structure of biomolecules by nuclear relaxation and molecular modelling methods

Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) has become the most frequently used technique for the investigation of the structure of biomacromolecules in solution. In particular, selective relaxation techniques have been used in the analysis of homonuclear dipolar connectivities (selective and biselective proton spin-lattice relaxation experiments) and heteronuclear couplings (selective {H} C-NOE, biselective carbon R₁ experiments). An accurate determination of selected i-j internuclear distances has made it possible to identify the preferred solution structure. A different experimental technique based on two-dimensional NOE spectra has made it possible to define the complex network of dipolar interactions that exists in biomacromolecules and hence the conformational properties in solution.     

Trimethylsilylation - Aid in NMR Analysis of Oligosaccharides. Assigment of 29Si and 13C NMR Spectra of Trimethylsilylated Methyl β-D-Xylobiosides by 2D NMR

The ¹H, ¹³C and ²⁹Si NMR spectra of methyl β-D-xylopyranoside and three methyl β-D-xylopyranosyl-β-D-xylopyranosides have been measured and assigned by two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy. According to the determined proton-proton coupling constants, the ring conformer ratio is essential ly the same in the studied compounds. The assigned chemical shifts provide correct substituent chemical shifts for assignments in the spectra of higher trimethylsilylated xylooligosaccharides. Heteronuclear chemical shift correlated 2D NMR spectroscopy is proven to be a usable experimental method for ²⁹Si NMR line assignment in carbohydrates. The assigned silicon shifts identify the site of glycosidation.     

A 2D solid-state NMR experiment to resolve overlapping aromatic resonances of thiophene-based nematogens

In this study, we demonstrate the feasibility of resolving overlapping 13C chemical shift spectral lines of aromatic rings in a thiophene-based nematogen in the mesophase using a 2D PITANSEMA solid-state NMR method. This technique provided the information about chemical shift values as well as dipolar couplings that are used for determining the orientational order parameter. Large C-H dipolar coupling values measured for thiophene in contrast to phenyl rings suggest that the heterocyclic ring is not part of the molecular axis. Using the order parameter, we determined the orientation of C-H vectors of the thiophene ring. We believe that the 2D solid-state NMR can be extended to other types of liquid crystalline materials such as the banana-based mesogens for determining the orientational order and bent angle.     

Quenching echo modulations in NMR spectroscopy.

In NMR spectroscopy, homonuclear scalar couplings normally lead to modulations of spin echoes that tend to interfere with the accurate determination of transverse relaxation rates by Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill (CPMG) multiple refocusing experiments. Surprisingly, the echo modulations are largely cancelled when the refocusing pulses applied to the coupling partner deviate slightly from ideal pi rotations due to tilted effective radio-frequency (RF) fields, even at offsets that are much smaller than the radio-frequency amplitude. Experiments and simulations illustrate these effects for two-spin IS systems containing donor and acceptor (15)N nuclei I=N (D) and S=N(A) in RNA Watson-Crick base pairs with homonuclear scalar couplings J(IS)=(2h)J(N(D), N(A)) across the hydrogen bonds.     

Microstructure determination of N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone/butyl acrylate copolymers by NMR spectroscopy

The copolymer composition of N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone/butyl acrylate (V/B) copolymers was determined from the quantitative ¹³C{¹H} NMR spectra. The monomer reactivity ratios for N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone (V) and butyl acrylate (B) were found to be r_V=0.11±0.07, r_B=0.54±0.19, using the Kelen–Tudos and non-linear least-square error-in-variable (EVM) methods. The ¹³C{¹H} and ¹H NMR spectra of these copolymers are overlapping and complex. The complete spectral assignment of the carbon and proton NMR spectra were done by employing distortionless enhancement by polarization transfer (DEPT) and two-dimensional (2D) ¹³C–¹H heteronuclear single quantum correlation spectroscopy experiments. The 2D total correlation spectroscopy (TOCSY) (¹H–¹H homonuclear TOCSY) NMR spectrum was used to ascertain the various geminal and vicinal couplings in the copolymer.     

Inverse H-C ex situ HRMAS NMR experiments for solid-phase peptide synthesis

The growing importance of solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) has necessitated the development of spectroscopic experiments that can be used to obtain structural and conformational information on resin-bound peptides. Despite the utility of two-dimensional high-resolution magic angle spinning (HRMAS) NMR experiments that provide homonuclear shift correlations, experiments that provide heteronuclear shift correlations are necessary for complex conformational and structural elucidatory problems. Here we report the optimization and implementation of non-gradient inverse NMR experiments for acquiring the 1H-13C shift correlations of resin-bound peptides. The use of non-gradient experiments is advantageous as many magic angle spinning (MAS) probes do not possess gradient coils. An HRMAS BIRD-HMQC experiment with a reduced 1JCH constant has proven very suitable for obtaining one-bond correlations. Long-range correlations can be interpolated by using a non-gradient HRMAS CT-HMBC-1 experiment where the resulting data is processed with forward linear prediction. It has been shown that removing the effects of 1H-1H J-modulation is crucial in order to view cross peaks that correspond to long-range correlations. Additionally, both experiments prove extremely useful over routine one-dimensional 13C HRMAS experiments for extracting carbon chemical shift data. The non-gradient HRMAS BIRD-HMQC and CT-HMBC-1 experiments can be used to assist in conformational analysis and to identify and deconvolute situations where accidental equivalence and seemingly correlated isochronous signals arise.     

Technical and practical aspects of 19F NMR‐based screening: toward sensitive high‐throughput screening with rapid deconvolution

The technical and practical aspects of ¹⁹F NMR‐based screening against a macromolecular target are analyzed in detail. A novel method utilizing the relaxation of ¹⁹F homonuclear double quantum coherence is proposed for performing NMR‐based binding assays in a direct‐ or competition‐mode format. A combined strategy based on ¹⁹F NMR chemical shift prediction, 2D ¹⁹F NMR DOSY, and 2D ¹⁹F–¹H NMR long‐range COSY experiments is presented for the deconvolution of complex mixtures of fluorinated molecules generated by either addition of single compounds or by chemical synthesis. The approaches presented here allow the screening of complex mixtures, even in the case where the exact composition is not known, and the rapid identification of the binders contained in the mixtures. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Solid state separated-local-field NMR spectroscopy on half-integer quadrupolar nuclei: principles and applications to borane analysis

New multidimensional NMR methods correlating the quadrupolar and heteronuclear dipolar interactions affecting a half-integer quadrupolar spin in the solid state are introduced and exemplified. The methods extend separated-local-field magic-angle spinning (SLF MAS) NMR techniques that have been used successfully in spin-(1)/(2) spectroscopy to the study of S >/= (3)/(2) nuclei. In our implementation, these techniques avoid homonuclear proton decoupling requirements by relying on moderately fast MAS rates (6-15 kHz) and use rotor-synchronized constant-time pulse sequences to achieve nearly arbitrary amplifications of the apparent dipolar coupling strengths. The result is a suite of simple 2D NMR experiments, whose line shapes carry valuable information about the structure and dynamics of solids containing quadrupolar and proton nuclei. The potential of these sequences was exploited to gather new insight into the structure and dynamics of a variety of boron-containing samples. These experimental SLF schemes were also extended to 3D NMR experiments that incorporate multiple-quantum MAS, thus enabling the resolution needed to study multiple chemical sites in a solid and providing a useful tool for the assignment of inequivalent sites.     

Application of a 1H δ‐resolved 2D NMR experiment to the visualization of enantiomers in chiral environment,using sample spatial encoding and selective echoes

We present the application of a 2D broadband homodecoupled proton NMR experiment to the visualization of enantiomers. In a chiral environment, the existence of diastereoisomeric intermolecular interactions can yield—generally slight—variations of proton chemical shifts from one enantiomer to another. We show that this approach, which relies on a spatial encoding of the NMR sample, is particularly well suited to the analysis of enantiomeric mixtures, since it allows, within one single 2D experiment, to detect subtle chemical shift differences between enantiomers, even in the presence of several couplings. This sequence, which uses semiselective radio‐frequency (rf) pulses combined to a z‐field gradient pulse, produces different selective echoes in various parts of the sample. The resulting homonuclear decoupling provides an original δ‐resolved spectrum along the diagonal of the 2D map where it becomes possible to probe the chiral differentiation process through every proton site where the resulting variation in the chemical shift is detectable. We discuss the advantages and drawbacks of this approach, regarding other experiments which provide homodecoupled proton spectra. This methodology is applied to the observation of enantiomers of (1) ( ± )2‐methyl‐isoborneol coordinated to europium (III) tris[3‐(trifluoromethyl‐hydroxymethylene)‐(+)‐camphorate] in isotropic solution, and (2) ( ± )3‐butyn‐2‐ol dissolved in a chiral liquid‐crystal solvent, in order to show the robustness of this pulse sequence for a wide range of chiral samples. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

HCSE method for detection of small carbon–carbon couplings and their signs,comparison with SLAP pulse sequence

Performance of homonuclear coupling sign edited (HCSE) experiment applied to detection of signed carbon–carbon couplings is discussed using a set of already measured samples of nine monosubstituted benzenes. It is shown that coupling sign detection is insensitive to the settings of carbon–carbon polarization transfer delays. The HCSE spectra of ten from the total of 43 measured carbon–carbon couplings were considerably influenced by relaxations and proton–proton strong couplings. These effects are quantitatively discussed. The results of HCSE and SLAP experiments are compared. It is shown that the two methods may complement each other in detection of signed carbon–carbon couplings. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A high-resolution solid-state NMR approach for the structural studies of bicelles

Bicelles are increasingly being used as membrane mimicking systems in NMR experiments to investigate the structure of membrane proteins. In this study, we demonstrate the effectiveness of a 2D solid-state NMR approach that can be used to measure the structural constraints, such as heteronuclear dipolar couplings between 1H, 13C, and 31P nuclei, in bicelles without the need for isotopic enrichment. This method does not require a high radio frequency power unlike the presently used rotating-frame separated-local-field (SLF) techniques, such as PISEMA. In addition, multiple dipolar couplings can be measured accurately, and the presence of a strong dipolar coupling does not suppress the weak couplings. High-resolution spectra obtained from magnetically aligned DMPC:DHPC bicelles even in the presence of peptides suggest that this approach will be useful in understanding lipid-protein interactions that play a vital role in shaping up the function of membrane proteins.     

Unexpected effects of third-order cross-terms in heteronuclear spin systems under simultaneous radio-frequency irradiation and magic-angle spinning NMR

We recently noted [R. K. Harris, P. Hodgkinson, V. Zorin, J.-N. Dumez, B. Elena, L. Emsley, E. Salager, and R. Stein, Magn. Reson. Chem. 48, S103 (2010)] anomalous shifts in apparent (1)H chemical shifts in experiments using (1)H homonuclear decoupling sequences to acquire high-resolution (1)H NMR spectra for organic solids under magic-angle spinning (MAS). Analogous effects were also observed in numerical simulations of model (13)C,(1)H spin systems under homonuclear decoupling and involving large (13)C,(1)H dipolar couplings. While the heteronuclear coupling is generally assumed to be efficiently suppressed by sample spinning at the magic angle, we show that under conditions typically used in solid-state NMR, there is a significant third-order cross-term from this coupling under the conditions of simultaneous MAS and homonuclear decoupling for spins directly bonded to (1)H. This term, which is of the order of 100 Hz under typical conditions, explains the anomalous behaviour observed on both (1)H and (13)C spins, including the fast dephasing observed in (13)C{(1)H} heteronuclear spin-echo experiments under (1)H homonuclear decoupling. Strategies for minimising the impact of this effect are also discussed.     

SIAM,a Novel NMR Experiment for the Determination of Homonuclear Coupling Constants

The simultaneous acquisition of in-phase and antiphase multiplets with high sensitivity and minimum overlap (see section of 2D spectra on the right) is possible in a novel NMR experiment. Based on this method, homonuclear coupling constants such as the ³J(H^N,H^α) couplings in peptides and proteins can be determined quantitatively without isotope labeling.     

Structures of protein-protein complexes are docked using only NMR restraints from residual dipolar coupling and chemical shift perturbations

NMR structures of protein-protein and protein-ligand complexes rely heavily on intermolecular NOEs. Recent work has shown that if no significant conformational changes occur upon complex formation residual dipolar coupling can replace most of the NOE restraints in protein-protein complexes, while restraints derived from chemical shift perturbations can largely replace intermolecular NOEs in protein-ligand structures. By combining restraints from chemical shift perturbations with orientation restraints derived from measurements of residual dipolar couplings, we show that the structure of the EIN-HPr complex can be calculated without NOE restraints. The final structure, built from the crystal structures of EIN and HPr in their uncomplexed form and docked only with NMR restraints, places HPr within 2.5 A of the position determined from the mean NMR structure of the complex.     

Complete 1H and 13C NMR assignments of the epimeric menthane-1-carboxylic acids

Complete NMR analyses with full assignments for (1)H and (13)C NMR spectral data for both epimers of menthane-1-carboxylic acid are described. The NMR properties of the recently synthesized axial isomer had not been previously described, and through use of a variety of 1D and 2D techniques, additional information is provided for the equatorial isomer. As well as assignments of chemical shifts, homonuclear coupling constants were determined for the equatorial isomer and most of coupling constants were measured for the axial isomer.