Improvement of double pulsed field gradient spin‐echo ROESY experiments for identification of bound waters

A novel pulse sequence incorporating the double pulsed field gradient spin‐echo (DPFGSE) and the gradient‐tailored excitation WATERGATE techniques is presented that has particular use for identifying bound waters in ¹⁵N‐labeled macromolecules. This sequence, DPFGSE–ROESY–HSQC, affords greater spectral sensitivity than the DPFGSE–ROESY–HMQC experiment which was previously presented and is consequently useful for rapidly obtaining reliable information for characterizing macromolecular bound water molecules. A significant enhancement in the sensitivity is achieved by using the gradient‐tailored excitation WATERGATE sequence in the reverse INEPT step as it allows the use of much higher receiver gains. Since coherence selection is not used, the sequence has improved sensitivity together with less spectral artifacts. The advantage of this pulse sequence is illustrated using ¹⁵N‐labeled ribonuclease T₁. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Application of NMR screening techniques for observing ligand binding with a protein receptor

Water ligand observed via gradient spectroscopy (WaterLOGSY), saturation transfer difference and NOE pumping NMR techniques were used to identify ligand binding with a receptor. Although these experiments were originally designed to observe ligands in complexes, their application is limited by the affinity of ligands towards target molecules. Here the improved WaterLOGSY pulse sequence was developed by incorporating the double pulsed field gradient spin-echo and gradient-tailored excitation WATERGATE sequences. The efficiency of these ligand-observed NMR screening techniques was investigated using the ribonuclease T1-inhibitor system.     

Practical aspects of ROESY experiments for identification of bound waters in the cyclic tetrasaccharide

ROESY pulse sequences are presented and evaluated to identify bound waters in the cyclic tetrasaccharide. The first experiment incorporated the double-pulsed field gradient spin-echo (DPFGSE) for selective water excitation at the initial portion of the pulse sequence. Although long, shaped pulses were used in DPFGSE to achieve the highly selective excitation of water resonance that is very close to resonances of the cyclic tetrasaccharide, the approach was not effective because of the loss of sensitivity. Concomitant use of long delays and moderate length of shaped pulses in the portion of DPFGSE gained more sensitivity. A simple approach incorporating spin-echo with long delays instead of DPFGSE also afforded a sensitive spectrum. Practical aspects of these ROESY experiments are illustrated using the cyclic tetrasaccharide cyclo-{-->6}-alpha-D-Glcp-(1-->3)-alpha-D-Glcp-(1-->6)-alpha-D-Glcp-(1-->3)-alpha-D-Glcp-(1-->).     

Application of WET sequence for the detection of the ligand signals resonating close to water

An efficient pulse sequence for observing the ligand signals resonating close to the water signal has been developed by incorporating the WET technique into the saturation transfer difference pulse sequence. Although several pulse sequences have been developed for observing a ligand binding with a protein receptor, the ligand signals resonating close to the water were undetectable owing to the interference of the huge water signal in the samples containing 95% ¹H₂O. On the point of sample preparation, it is preferable to avoid the solvent exchange in the protein samples. In the proposed pulse sequence, a WET sequence is incorporated for the selective suppression of the water resonance. The efficient water suppression and the clear observation of the bound ligand signals close to the water have been demonstrated using the lysozyme‐glucose complex. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Aroma WaterLOGSY: a fast and sensitive screening tool for drug discovery

One-dimensional NMR spectroscopy has proven to be a powerful technique for screening compound libraries in drug discovery. We report a novel water ligand-observed gradient spectroscopy (WaterLOGSY) pulse sequence, named Aroma WaterLOGSY, that selectively detects aromatic WaterLOGSY signals from compounds or ligands. In the Aroma WaterLOGSY, water magnetization is untouched after water excitation and utilizes the whole period of the remaining pulse sequence to relax back to the +z direction. Due to the phase cycling design, the water magnetization is allowed to relax for the period of two full scans before it gets inverted again. Therefore, the recycle delay can be significantly shortened. Within similar experimental time, Aroma WaterLOGSY shows approximately two times higher sensitivity than the standard scheme. This method also allows the use of non-deuterated reagents, thereby accelerating experimental set-up time for ligand-binding studies.     

A new phase modulated binomial‐like selective‐inversion sequence for solvent signal suppression in NMR

A new 8 ‐pulse P hase M odulated binomial‐like selective inversion pulse sequence, dubbed ‘8PM’, was developed by optimizing the nutation and phase angles of the constituent radio‐frequency pulses so that the inversion profile resembled a target profile. Suppression profiles were obtained for both the 8PM and W5 based excitation sculpting sequences with equal inter‐pulse delays. Significant distortions were observed in both profiles because of the offset effect of the radio frequency pulses. These distortions were successfully reduced by adjusting the inter‐pulse delays. With adjusted inter‐pulse delays, the 8PM and W5 based excitation sculpting sequences were tested on an aqueous lysozyme solution. The 8 PM based sequence provided higher suppression selectivity than the W5 based sequence. Two‐dimensional nuclear Overhauser effect spectroscopy experiments were also performed on the lysozyme sample with 8PM and W5 based water signal suppression. The 8PM based suppression provided a spectrum with significantly increased (~ doubled) cross‐peak intensity around the suppressed water resonance compared to the W5 based suppression. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

T1 relaxation measurement with solvent suppression

Three solvent-suppression pulse sequences of varying complexity were incorporated into the standard inversion recovery pulse program and experimentally evaluated. The least complex suppression sequence involves a composite 90 degrees pulse. A more complex sequence utilizes an excitation sculpting sequence requiring pulsed field gradients, and the most complex sequence incorporates an excitation sculpting sequence with selective rf pulses and gradient pulses. The quality of the spectral data and the accuracy of T(1) measurements of the investigated suppression schemes were evaluated using three aqueous samples with increasing proton content in the water solvent, i.e. by volume 100% D(2)O, 80/20% D(2)O/H(2)O, and 100% H(2)O. For lines removed from the water resonance the T(1) values were generally very consistent between all pulse sequences tested. For lines less than about 200 Hz from the water signal the T(1) measurements become less reliable but are still possible for most of the tested pulse programs.     

PGSE‐WATERGATE,a new tool for NMR diffusion‐based studies of ligand–macromolecule binding

A new pulsed gradient spin‐echo NMR diffusion sequence, PGSE‐WATERGATE, which is based on the extremely efficient WATERGATE solvent suppression sequence, is presented. The sequence is simple to set up and particularly suited to measuring the diffusion coefficients of small ligands in aqueous solution such as is commonly required in pharmaceutical and combinatorial applications. It also affords the possibility of measuring the diffusion of exchangeable resonances, which is often impossible in conjunction with other suppression schemes. Further, a trivial modification of the sequence affords the possibility of multiple solvent suppression, thereby increasing its suitability to LC–NMR applications. The utility of the sequence is demonstrated on the salicylate–bovine serum albumin system. The dissociation constant, K_d, and the number of binding sites were found to be 0.030 M and 33, respectively. Importantly, the extremely high degree of suppression provided by the new sequence allowed the salicylate diffusion coefficients to be measured over a very wide concentration range sufficient to show that the salicylate–bovine serum albumin system is not well described by a simple two‐site model. Previous studies in the literature have been based on data from a smaller concentration range, for which this model gives an apparently good fit. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A new selective population transfer experiment using a double pulsed field gradient spin-echo

A new pulse sequence is proposed for the determination of scalar coupling correlation in small- and medium-sized organic compounds. The method uses a combination of the double pulsed field gradient spin-echo (DPFGSE) and the selective population transfer (SPT) techniques and is shown to be useful in the analysis of complex spectra with many overlapped signals. The usefulness of this method in the structural elucidation of natural substances is demonstrated using strychnine and digitoxin as examples.     

Modified,pulse field gradient‐enhanced inverse‐detected HOESY pulse sequence for reduction of t1 spectral artifacts

A modified pulse field gradient (PFG)‐enhanced inverse (¹H)‐detected 2D heteronuclear Overhauser effect spectroscopy (HOESY) pulse sequence is demonstrated for the acquisition of ¹H–⁷Li heteronuclear correlations. In practice, t₁ noise artifacts were observed using the original PFG‐enhanced inverse‐detected HOESY pulse sequence, which degraded the ability to detect accurately weak heteronuclear Overhauser signals. Experimentally it is shown that a simple modification of the PFG‐enhanced inverse‐detected HOESY pulse sequence greatly reduces the t₁ noise that may result from variations in magnetic susceptibility, and allows improved detection of weak ¹H–⁷Li correlations. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

T2 relaxation measurement with solvent suppression and implications to solvent suppression in general

A number of suppression pulse sequences including Excitation Sculpting and WATERGATE were incorporated into the standard Carr‐Purcell‐Meiboom‐Gill (CPMG) program for T₂ measurement and experimentally evaluated. The chosen suppression schemes were of varying complexity encompassing pulse program elements, such as presaturation, gradients, and selective pulses, which are typically utilized for solvent suppression. The quality of the spectral data and the accuracy of T₂ measurements of the investigated suppression schemes were evaluated using three aqueous samples with increasing proton content in the water solvent, i.e. by volume 100% D₂O, 80/20% D₂O/H₂O, and 20/80% D₂O/H₂O. For signals removed from the water signal, the T₂ values were generally very consistent between all pulse sequences tested. T₂ measurements can be unreliable for signals too close to the water signal such that they are significantly suppressed as well. Their intensity may actually grow initially through cross relaxation that transfers magnetization back to the solute signal. In turn, this relaxation phenomenon can be exploited to improve the spectral quality of conventional solvent suppression schemes. In favorable cases, even signals that are completely masked by the water signal can be recovered by adding a carefully chosen number of spin echoes with optimized evolution time to conventional water suppression pulse programs, such as Excitation Sculpting or WATERGATE. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Characterization of humic substances: Implications for trihalomethane formation

Humic substances are precursors of carcinogenic trihalomethanes (THMs) formed during disinfection by chlorination in water treatment processes. In an effort to understand the relationship between trihalomethane formation potential (THMFP) and physicochemical properties of humic substances, UV-visible absorbance, fluorescence in emission and synchronous scan modes, and NMR spectra were measured for several aquatic fulvic and humic acids. For comparison, a soil fulvic acid was also examined using these methods. The feasibility of the gradient modified spin-echo (GOSE) NMR experiment to selectively measure singlet resonances arising from isolated protons was examined. In addition, diffusion coefficients were measured for DMSO solutions of the fulvic acids using BPPLED and GOSE-edited pulse sequences. Although none of the methods tested produced results that correlated with THMFP, the GOSE intensities determined for different regions of the NMR spectra did reflect the relative abundance of different types of functional groups produced by lignin oxidation. In addition, the GOSE-edited diffusion results suggest that the isolated protons, those most reactive to chlorination, are more likely contained in the larger molecular weight fractions of fulvic acids.     

Crosslinking of PVA and glutaraldehyde in water monitored by viscosity and pulse field gradient NMR: a comparative study

The crosslinking of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) with glutaraldehyde at 80 °C was characterized by viscosity and pulse field gradient (PFG) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques. NMR signified an initial dormant period of approximately 6 hr, in which the self‐diffusion coefficient of PVA was found to be constant and independent of time. During the next 7 hr (the “primary” gel period), this induction period was succeeded by a fast decay of the self‐diffusion coefficient of rate (9.13 ± 0.45) × 10⁻⁵ sec⁻¹ followed by a slower decay rate of (3.22 ± 0.30) × 10⁻⁵ sec⁻¹ (the “secondary” gel period). The viscosity of the solution showed the same time behavior, i.e. an initial dormant period (∼ 6 hrs), followed by a fast increase of the viscosity for the next 7 –8 hr. During the “secondary” gel regime, the viscosity became too large to be reliably determined. However, within the time regime where both techniques produced reliable data, they gave identical information regarding the kinetics of the gel process, suggesting that PFG NMR enables in situ monitoring of gelation within porous materials (for instance sandstone). Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Homonuclear J-Coupling Spectroscopy at Low Magnetic Fields using Spin-Lock Induced Crossing**

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy usually requires high magnetic fields to create spectral resolution among different proton species. Although proton signals can also be detected at low fields the spectrum exhibits a single line if J-coupling is stronger than chemical shift dispersion. In this work, we demonstrate that the spectra can nevertheless be acquired in this strong-coupling regime using a novel pulse sequence called spin-lock induced crossing (SLIC). This techniques probes energy level crossings induced by a weak spin-locking pulse and produces a unique J-coupling spectrum for most organic molecules. Unlike other forms of low-field J-coupling spectroscopy, our technique does not require the presence of heteronuclei and can be used for most compounds in their native state. We performed SLIC spectroscopy on a number of small molecules at 276 kHz and 20.8 MHZ and show that the simulated SLIC spectra agree well with measurements.     

液体NMR实验中溶剂峰的抑制方法

溶剂共振峰 (水峰 )的抑制是核磁共振 (NMR)波谱学 ,特别是生物NMR研究中的关键技术之一。根据其原理 ,可以大致把抑制方法分为六类 :预饱和法、选择性不激发法、弛豫加权法、脉冲梯度场法、相干选择法和数据后处理法。理想的溶剂峰抑制方法应该同时具有选择性好、效率高和容易使用三个特点。现有的方法或多或少都存在一定缺陷 ,因此 ,需要根据具体实验选择比较合适的溶剂峰抑制方法。本文对这些方法的特点和适用范围作了介绍 ,期望能够对于溶剂峰抑制方法的选择有所帮助。     

Chelation behaviour of nitroso- pyrazolones with Mn(II), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II) AND Zn(II)

Infrared (IR), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), thermogravimetric analysis (TG), derivative thermogravimetric analysis (DTG), differential thermal analysis (DTA) and molar conductivity studies have been carried out on the chelates of Mn(II), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II) with 3-methyl- and 3-phenyl-4-nitroso-5-pyrazolones. The solid chelates were synthesized, separated, analyzed and their structures were elucidated. The data obtained show that almost all of the prepared chelates contain water molecules in their coordination sphere. The initial stage in the thermal decomposition process of these chelates shows the presence of water molecule, the second denotes to the intermediate products. The final decomposition products were found to be the respective metal oxides. The NMR spectrum of 3-methyl-4-nitroso-5-pyrazolone ligand shows the existence of the oxime rather than the nitroso form. 3-phenyl-4-nitroso-5-pyrazolone acts as a neutral bidentate ligand whereas 3-methyl-4-nitroso-5-pyrazolone acts as monobasic bidentate ligand bonded to the metal ions through the two oxygen atoms of the carbonyl and nitroso groups. The solid chelates prepared behave as non-electrolytes in DMF solution. The coordination numbers of the obtained chelates using 3-methyl-4-nitroso-5-pyrazolone are four on applying the mole ratio 1:1 and six on using 1:2 mole ratio. In case of using the ligand 3-phenyl-4-nitroso-5-pyrazolone the coordination number is six in both cases. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Improved pulse sequences for measurement of small long‐range couplings between heteronuclei (29Si?13C) at natural abundance

The gradient pulse sequences for measurement of small long‐range couplings between heteronuclei (²⁹Si? ¹³C) in natural abundance reported to date (INEPT‐(Si,C)gCOSY and INEPT‐(Si,C,Si)HMQC) suffer from significant signal loss when these nuclei (²⁹Si, ¹³C) are coupled through one‐bond couplings to protons. This negative effect can be completely eliminated by using non‐gradient versions (INEPT‐(Si,C)COSY) or by switching proton decoupling off during gradient pulses (modified INEPT‐(Si,C,Si)gHMQC pulse sequence). The beneficial effects of these two approaches on the quality of the spectra are demonstrated here. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Surface influence on the rotational and translational dynamics of molecules confined inside a mesoporous carbon xerogel

Low-field nuclear magnetic resonance techniques are employed to extract information about the effects introduced by the interaction with the surface on the rotational and translational dynamics of molecules confined inside a mesoporous carbon xerogel. The molecules under study were water, cyclohexane, and hexane. They were chosen due to their different interaction strength with the carbonaceous matrix. Frequency dependent longitudinal relaxation measurements, using the fast field cycling technique, allowed extraction of the fractal dimension of the carbon xerogel surface. It was observed that the measured value is influenced by the molecule affinity to the surface. Diffusion measurements, using the pulse field gradient technique, have revealed that the stronger interaction with the surface of cyclohexane and hexane molecules leads to an increased diffusive tortuosity, as compared with water.     

Critical comments on accuracy of quantitative determination of natural humic matter by solid state (13)C NMR spectroscopy

Structural information of natural organic matter (NOM) at the molecular level is very essential in understanding their nature and reactivity. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is an excellent tool for estimating the gross chemical composition of the very complex humic matter (HM). A well-known fact is that the solid state ¹³C NMR spectral analysis is very parameter-sensitive especially in the study of the heterogenous HM (e.g. baseline corrections, different pulse techniques and spinning rates of the rotor vs. different disruptive sidebands in the spectra). This being the case, it has been emphasized the importance of qualitative and quantitative analyses for generating as real spectra as possible by means of different pulse and polarization techniques, sampling spinning rates as well as certain correction factors. In the present study a practical accuracy for quantitative determination of NOM type material by solid state ¹³C NMR spectroscopy was assessed using a known HM sample. Different magnetic-field strengths, sampling spinning rates, single and ramped amplitude cross polarization techniques and TOSS pulse sequence were applied for obtaining a more reliable insight into the disruptive effect of the chemical shift anisotropy (CSA), especially the most disturbing first order spinning side bands (SSB). The results demonstrated that the SSB problem is not so significant as sometimes stated, at least in the context of HM samples and in the light of the overall reproducibility and uncertainty connected with the sample itself.     

Solvent Effect and Reactivity Trend in the Aerobic Oxidation of 1,3‐Propanediols over Gold Supported on Titania: NMR Diffusion and Relaxation Studies

In recent work, it was reported that changes in solvent composition, precisely the addition of water, significantly inhibits the catalytic activity of Au/TiO₂ catalyst in the aerobic oxidation of 1,4‐butanediol in methanol due to changes in diffusion and adsorption properties of the reactant. In order to understand whether the inhibition mechanism of water on diol oxidation in methanol is generally valid, the solvent effect on the aerobic catalytic oxidation of 1,3‐propanediol and its two methyl‐substituted homologues, 2‐methyl‐1,3‐propanediol and 2,2‐dimethyl‐1,3‐propanediol, over a Au/TiO₂ catalyst has been studied here using conventional catalytic reaction monitoring in combination with pulsed‐field gradient nuclear magnetic resonance (PFG‐NMR) diffusion and NMR relaxation time measurements. Diol conversion is significantly lower when water is present in the initial diol/methanol mixture. A reactivity trend within the group of diols was also observed. Combined NMR diffusion and relaxation time measurements suggest that molecular diffusion and, in particular, the relative strength of diol adsorption, are important factors in determining the conversion. These results highlight NMR diffusion and relaxation techniques as novel, non‐invasive characterisation tools for catalytic materials, which complement conventional reaction data.