Studies of minute quantities of natural abundance molecules using 2D heteronuclear correlation spectroscopy under 100 kHz MAS

Using Abundant 1H Polarization to Enhance the Sensitivity of Solid-State NMR Spectroscopy

Solid-state NMR spectroscopy has been playing a significant role in elucidating the structures and dynamics of materials and proteins at the atomic level for decades. As an extremely abundant nucleus with a very high gyromagnetic ratio, protons are widely present in most organic/inorganic materials. Thus, this Perspective highlights the advantages of proton detection at fast magic-angle spinning (MAS) and presents strategies to utilize and exhaust 1H polarization to achieve signal sensitivity enhancement of solid-state NMR spectroscopy, enabling substantial time savings and extraction of more structural and dynamics information per unit time. Those strategies include developing sensitivity-enhanced single-channel 1H multidimensional NMR spectroscopy, implementing multiple polarization transfer steps in each scan to enhance low-γ nuclei signals, and making full use of 1H polarization to obtain homonuclear and heteronuclear chemical shift correlation spectra in a single experiment. Finally, outlooks and perspectives are provided regarding the challenges and future for the further development of sensitivity-enhanced proton-based solid-state NMR spectroscopy.

Discovering the Solid-State Secrets of Lorlatinib by NMR Crystallography: To Hydrogen Bond or not to Hydrogen Bond

Lorlatinib is an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) used in the treatment of lung cancer. Here, an NMR crystallography analysis is presented whereby the single-crystal X-ray diffraction structure (CSD: 2205098) determination is complemented by multinuclear (1H, 13C, 14/15N, 19F) magic-angle spinning (MAS) solid-state NMR and gauge-including projector augmented wave (GIPAW) calculation of NMR chemical shifts. Lorlatinib crystallises in the P21 space group, with two distinct molecules in the asymmetric unit cell, Z' = 2. Three of the four NH2 hydrogen atoms form intermolecular hydrogen bonds, N30-H…N15 between the two distinct molecules and N30-H…O2 between two equivalent molecules. This is reflected in one of the NH21H chemical shifts being significantly lower, 4.0 ppm compared to 7.0 ppm. Two-dimensional 1H-13C, 14N-1H and 1H (double-quantum, DQ)-1H (single-quantum, SQ) MAS NMR spectra are presented. The 1H resonances are assigned and specific HH proximities corresponding to the observed DQ peaks are identified. The resolution enhancement at a 1H Larmor frequency of 1 GHz as compared to 500 or 600 MHz is demonstrated.

Determination of the mutual orientation between proton CSA tensors mediated through band-selective 1H-1H recoupling under fast MAS

The mutual orientation of nuclear spin interaction tensors provides critical information on the conformation and arrangement of molecules in chemicals, materials, and biological systems at an atomic level. Proton is a ubiquitous and important element in a variety of substances, and its NMR is highly sensitive due to their virtually 100% natural abundance and large gyromagnetic ratio. Nevertheless, the measurement of mutual orientation between the ¹H CSA tensors has remained largely untouched in the past due to strong ¹H-¹H homonuclear interactions in a dense network of protons. In this study, we have developed a proton-detected 3D ¹H CSA/¹H CSA/¹H CS correlation method that utilizes three techniques to manage homonuclear interactions, namely fast magic-angle spinning, windowless C-symmetry-based CSA recoupling (windowless-ROCSA), and a band-selective ¹H-¹H polarization transfer. The asymmetric ¹H CSA/¹H CSA correlated powder patterns produced by the C-symmetry-based methods are highly sensitive to the sign and asymmetry parameter of the ¹H CSA, and the Euler angle β as compared to the symmetric pattern obtained by the existing γ-encoded R-symmetry-based CSA/CSA correlation methods and allows a larger spectral area for data fitting. These features are beneficial for determining the mutual orientation between the nuclear spin interaction tensors with improved accuracy.

Optimisation of 1H PMLG homonuclear decoupling at 60 kHz MAS to enable 15N-1H through-bond heteronuclear correlation solid-state NMR spectroscopy

The Lee-Goldburg condition for homonuclear decoupling in 1H magic-angle spinning (MAS) solid-state NMR sets the angle θ, corresponding to arctan of the ratio of the rf nutation frequency, ν1, to the rf offset, to be the magic angle, θm, equal to tan-1(√2) = 54.7°. At 60 kHz MAS, we report enhanced decoupling compared to MAS alone in a 1H spectrum of 15N-glycine with at θ = 30° for a ν1 of ∼100 kHz at a 1H Larmor frequency, ν0, of 500 MHz and 1 GHz, corresponding to a high chemical shift scaling factor (λCS) of 0.82. At 1 GHz, we also demonstrate enhanced decoupling compared to 60 kHz MAS alone for a lower ν1 of 51 kHz, i.e., a case where the nutation frequency is less than the MAS frequency, with θ = 18°, λCS = 0.92. The ratio of the rotor period to the decoupling cycle time, Ψ = τr/τc, is in the range 0.53 to 0.61. Windowed decoupling using the optimised parameters for a ν1 of ∼100 kHz also gives good performance in a 1H spin-echo experiment, enabling implementation in a 1H-detected 15N-1H cross polarisation (CP)-refocused INEPT heteronuclear correlation NMR experiment. Specifically, initial 15N transverse magnetisation as generated by 1H-15N CP is transferred back to 1H using a refocused INEPT pulse sequence employing windowed 1H decoupling. Such an approach ensures the observation of through-bond N-H connectivities. For 15N-glycine, while the CP-refocused INEPT experiment has a lower sensitivity (∼50%) as compared to a double CP experiment (with a 200 μs 15N to 1H CP contact time), there is selectivity for the directly bonded NH3+ moiety, while intensity is observed for the CH21H resonances in the double CP experiment. Two-dimensional 15N-1H correlation MAS NMR spectra are presented for the dipeptide β-AspAla and the pharmaceutical cimetidine at 60 kHz MAS, both at natural isotopic abundance. For the dipeptide β-AspAla, different build-up dependence on the first spin-echo duration is observed for the NH and NH3+ moieties demonstrating that the experiment could be used to distinguish resonances for different NHx groups.

Determination of the chemical shift tensor anisotropy and asymmetry of strongly dipolar coupled protons under fast MAS

Orientationally-dependent interactions such as dipolar coupling, quadrupolar coupling, and chemical shift anisotropy (CSA) contain a wealth of spatial information that can be used to elucidate molecular conformations and dynamics. To determine the sign of the chemical shift tensor anisotropy parameter (δ_aniso), both the |m| ​= ​1 and |m| ​= ​2 components of the CSA need to be symmetry allowed, while the recoupling of the |m| ​= ​1 term is accompanied with the reintroduction of homonuclear dipolar coupling components. Therefore, previously suggested sequences which solely recouple the |m| ​= ​2 term cannot determine the sign a ¹H's δ_aniso in a densely-coupled network. In this study, we demonstrate the CSA recoupling of strongly dipolar coupled ¹H spins using the Cn_n¹(90₀360₁₈₀540₀360₁₈₀90₀) sequence. This pulse scheme recouples both the |m| ​= ​1 and |m| ​= ​2 CSA terms but the scaling factors for the homonuclear dipolar coupling terms are zeroed. Consequently, the sequence is sensitive to the sign of δ_aniso but is not influenced by homonuclear dipolar interactions.

Combining fast magic angle spinning dynamic nuclear polarization with indirect detection to further enhance the sensitivity of solid-state NMR spectroscopy

Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) and indirect detection are two commonly applied approaches for enhancing the sensitivity of solid-state NMR spectroscopy. However, their use in tandem has not yet been investigated. With the advent of low-temperature fast magic angle spinning (MAS) probes with 1.3-mm diameter rotors capable of MAS at 40 ​kHz it becomes feasible to combine these two techniques. In this study, we performed DNP-enhanced 2D indirectly detected heteronuclear correlation (idHETCOR) experiments on ¹³C, ¹⁵N, ¹¹³Cd and ⁸⁹Y nuclei in functionalized mesoporous silica, CdS nanoparticles, and Y₂O₃ nanoparticles. The sensitivity of the 2D idHETCOR experiments was compared with those of DNP-enhanced directly-detected 1D cross polarization (CP) and 2D HETCOR experiments performed with a standard 3.2-mm rotor. Due to low CP polarization transfer efficiencies and large proton linewidth, the sensitivity gains achieved by indirect detection alone were lower than in conventional (non-DNP) experiments. Nevertheless, despite the smaller sample volume the 2D idHETCOR experiments showed better absolute sensitivities than 2D HETCOR experiments for nuclei with the lowest gyromagnetic ratios. For ⁸⁹Y, 2D idHETCOR provided 8.2 times better sensitivity than the 1 D⁸⁹Y-detected CP experiment performed with a 3.2-mm rotor.

Understanding hydrogen-bonding structures of molecular crystals via electron and NMR nanocrystallography

Understanding hydrogen-bonding networks in nanocrystals and microcrystals that are too small for X-ray diffractometry is a challenge. Although electron diffraction (ED) or electron 3D crystallography are applicable to determining the structures of such nanocrystals owing to their strong scattering power, these techniques still lead to ambiguities in the hydrogen atom positions and misassignments of atoms with similar atomic numbers such as carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen. Here, we propose a technique combining ED, solid-state NMR (SSNMR), and first-principles quantum calculations to overcome these limitations. The rotational ED method is first used to determine the positions of the non-hydrogen atoms, and SSNMR is then applied to ascertain the hydrogen atom positions and assign the carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen atoms via the NMR signals for ¹H, ¹³C, ¹⁴N, and ¹⁵N with the aid of quantum computations. This approach elucidates the hydrogen-bonding networks in l-histidine and cimetidine form B whose structure was previously unknown.

Electron diffraction can be used to determine nanocrystal structures, but is unsuitable for locating hydrogen atoms. Here the authors combine electron diffraction, solid-state NMR and first-principles calculations to resolve the crystal structures and hydrogen-bonding networks of L-histidine and cimetidine form B.

Resolution enhancement and proton proximity probed by 3D TQ/DQ/SQ proton NMR spectroscopy under ultrafast magic-angle-spinning beyond 70 kHz

Proton nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) in solid state has gained significant attention in recent years due to the remarkable resolution and sensitivity enhancement afforded by ultrafast magic-angle-spinning (MAS). In spite of the substantial suppression of ¹H-¹H dipolar couplings, the proton spectral resolution is still poor compared to that of ¹³C or ¹⁵N NMR, rendering it challenging for the structural and conformational analysis of complex chemicals or biological solids. Herein, by utilizing the benefits of double-quantum (DQ) and triple-quantum (TQ) coherences, we propose a 3D single-channel pulse sequence that correlates proton triple-quantum/double-quantum/single-quantum (TQ/DQ/SQ) chemical shifts. In addition to the two-spin proximity information, this 3D TQ/DQ/SQ pulse sequence enables more reliable extraction of three-spin proximity information compared to the regular 2D TQ/SQ correlation experiment, which could aid in revealing the proton network in solids. Furthermore, the TQ/DQ slice taken at a specific SQ chemical shift only reveals the local correlations to the corresponding SQ chemical shift, and thus it enables accurate assignments of the proton peaks along the TQ and DQ dimensions and simplifies the interpretation of proton spectra especially for dense proton networks. The high performance of this 3D pulse sequence is well demonstrated on small compounds, L-alanine and a tripeptide, N-formyl-L-methionyl-L-leucyl-L-phenylalanine (MLF). We expect that this new methodology can inspire the development of multidimensional solid-state NMR pulse sequences using the merits of TQ and DQ coherences and enable high-throughput investigations of complex solids using abundant protons.

Polarization inversion applied to proton MAS-NMR spectroscopy - Methylene and methine free proton NMR spectra

Polarization-inversion (PI) has been applied to proton magic angle spinning (MAS) NMR spectra recorded under fast MAS conditions. The combination of cross-polarization (CP) from carbon to proton and subsequent polarization-inversion produces strong oscillatory behavior in the proton signal intensities at high MAS speeds of 60 kHz. It is observed that by a suitable choice of the polarization-inversion time, a proton spectrum free of methylene and methine protons can be obtained. Such a spectrum, on the one hand, increases the resolution of the crowded proton spectrum and on the other hand provides exclusively chemical shifts of protons such as NH, OH and SH which might otherwise overlap with carbon attached protons. The oscillations observed during PI can also be used to estimate the dipolar coupling between proton and carbon by Fourier transformation of data acquired at equally incremented time periods. The utility of the above ideas has been demonstrated on a set of molecules with both ¹³C labeled and ¹³C in natural abundance.

Forcing the 'lazy' protons to work

The combination of cross-polarization (CP) with flip-back (FB) pulse has enabled in NMR the enhancement of 13C sensitivity and the decrease of the recycling delay at both moderate and fast magic-angle spinning (MAS) frequencies. However, only continuous-wave (CW) decoupling is presently compatible with FB-pulse (FB-CW), and depending on the CW radio-frequency (rf) field, either an insignificant sensitivity gain or an acquisition time-dependent gain and a low 13C resolution are obtained. In this study, we propose a new FB-pulse method in which radio frequency-driven recoupling (RFDR) is used as the 1H-13C decoupling scheme to overcome these drawbacks. The performances of FB-RFDR in terms of decoupling efficiency and sensitivity gain are tested on both natural abundance (NA) and uniformly 13C-15N labeled l-histidine·HCl·H2O (Hist) samples at a MAS frequency of νR = 70 kHz. The results show the superiority of RFDR over the CW decoupling with respect to these criteria. Importantly, they reveal that the sensitivity gain offered by FB-RFDR is nearly independent of the decoupling/acquisition duration. The application of FB-RFDR on NA-Hist and sucrose yields a sensitivity gain between 60 and 100% compared to conventional FB-CW and CPMAS-SPINAL experiments. Moreover, we compare the 13C sensitivities of NA-Hist obtained by our 1D FB-RFDR method and 2D 1H-{13C} double-CP acquisition. Both methods provide similar 13C sensitivity and are complementary. Indeed, the 2D method has the advantage of also providing the 1H-13C spatial proximities, but its sensitivity for quaternary carbons is limited; whereas our 1D FB-RFDR method is more independent of the type of carbon, and can provide a 13C 1D spectrum in a shorter experimental time. We also test the feasibility of FB-RFDR at a moderate frequency of νR = 20 kHz, but the experimental results demonstrate a poor resolution as well as a negligible sensitivity gain.

Sensitivity enhanced (14)N/(14)N correlations to probe inter-beta-sheet interactions using fast magic angle spinning solid-state NMR in biological solids

(14)N/(14)N correlations are vital for structural studies of solid samples, especially those in which (15)N isotopic enrichment is challenging, time-consuming and expensive. Although (14)N nuclei have high isotopic abundance (99.6%), there are inherent difficulties in observing (14)N/(14)N correlations due to limited resolution and sensitivity related to: (i) low (14)N gyromagnetic ratio (γ), (ii) large (14)N quadrupolar couplings, (iii) integer (14)N spin quantum number (I = 1), and (iv) very weak (14)N-(14)N dipolar couplings. Previously, we demonstrated a proton-detected 3D (14)N/(14)N/(1)H correlation experiment at fast magic angle spinning (MAS) on l-histidine·HCl·H2O utilizing a through-bond (J) and residual dipolar-splitting (RDS) based heteronuclear multiple quantum correlation (J-HMQC) sequence mediated through (1)H/(1)H radio-frequency driven recoupling (RFDR). As an extension of our previous work, in this study we show the utility of dipolar-based HMQC (D-HMQC) in combination with (1)H/(1)H RFDR mixing to obtain sensitivity enhanced (14)N/(14)N correlations in more complex biological solids such as a glycyl-l-alanine (Gly-l-Ala) dipeptide, and parallel (P) and antiparallel (AP) β-strand alanine tripeptides (P-(Ala)3 and AP-(Ala)3, respectively). These systems highlight the mandatory necessity of 3D (14)N/(14)N/(1)H measurements to get (14)N/(14)N correlations when the amide proton resonances are overlapped. Moreover, the application of long selective (14)N pulses, instead of short hard ones, is shown to improve the sensitivity. Globally, we demonstrate that replacing J-scalar with dipolar interaction and hard- with selective-(14)N pulses allows gaining a factor of ca. 360 in experimental time. On the basis of intermolecular NH/NH distances and (14)N quadrupolar tensor orientations, (14)N/(14)N correlations are effectively utilized to make a clear distinction between the parallel and antiparallel arrangements of the β-strands in (Ala)3 through the observation of inter-β-sheet correlations.

Resolution enhancement in proton double quantum magic-angle spinning spectra by constant-time acquisition

Although very fast MAS rate (>60 kHz) paves a way to obtain a sufficient resolution in the ¹H double-quantum magic-angle spinning (DQMAS) experiments to probe ¹H proximities, the ¹H resolution still limits wider applications below its potential use. Here, the combination of the DQMAS experiment with the constant-time (CT) acquisition approach is demonstrated, giving an increased peak-separation power in the DQ dimension. The advantages and disadvantages in terms of sensitivity and resolution of the conventional and CT approaches are discussed.

Proton detection of MAS solid-state NMR spectra of half-integer quadrupolar nuclei

Fast magic angle spinning (MAS) and proton detection has found widespread application to enhance the sensitivity of solid-state NMR experiments with spin-1/2 nuclei such as ¹³C, ¹⁵N and ²⁹Si, however, this approach is not yet routinely applied to half-integer quadrupolar nuclei. Here we have investigated the feasibility of using fast MAS and proton detection to enhance the sensitivity of solid-state NMR experiments with half-integer quadrupolar nuclei. The previously described dipolar hetero-nuclear multiple quantum correlation (D-HMQC) and dipolar refocused insensitive nuclei enhanced by polarization transfer (D-RINEPT) pulse sequences were used for proton detection of half-integer quadrupolar nuclei. Quantitative comparisons of signal-to-noise ratios and the sensitivity of proton detected D-HMQC and D-RINEPT and direct detection spin echo and quadrupolar Carr-Purcell Meiboom-Gill (QCPMG) solid-state NMR spectra, demonstrate that one dimensional proton detected experiments can provide sensitivity similar to or exceeding that obtainable with direct detection QCPMG experiments. 2D D-HMQC and D-RINEPT experiments provide less sensitivity than QCPMG experiments but proton detected 2D hetero-nuclear correlation solid-state NMR spectra of half-integer nuclei can still be acquired in about the same time as a 1D spin echo spectrum. Notably, the rarely used D-RINEPT pulse sequence is found to provide similar, or better sensitivity than D-HMQC in some cases. Proton detected D-RINEPT benefits from the short longitudinal relaxation times (T₁) normally associated with half-integer quadrupolar nuclei, it can be combined with existing signal enhancement methods for quadrupolar nuclei, and t₁-noise in the indirect dimension can easily be removed by pre-saturation of the ¹H nuclei. The rapid acquisition of proton detected 2D HETCOR solid-state NMR spectra of a range of half-integer quadrupolar nuclei such as ¹⁷O, ²⁷Al, ³⁵Cl and ⁷¹Ga is demonstrated.

Solid-state NMR meets electron diffraction: determination of crystalline polymorphs of small organic microcrystalline samples

A combination of solid-state NMR (ssNMR) and electron diffraction (ED) has been used to determine the crystalline polymorphs in small-organic microcrystalline molecules. Although ¹³C cross-polarization magic angle spinning (CPMAS) is a widely used method for determining crystalline polymorphs, even in a mixture, it sometimes fails if the molecular conformations are similar. On the other hand, ED can, in principle, differentiate crystalline forms with different lattice parameters, even when they have very similar molecular conformations. However, its application is usually limited to inorganic molecules only. This is because the ED measurements of organic molecules are very challenging due to degradation of the sample by electron irradiation. We overcame these difficulties by the use of ¹H double-quantum/single-quantum correlation experiments at very fast magic angle spinning, together with ED observations under mild electron irradiation. The experiments were demonstrated on L-histidine samples in L-histidine·HCl·H₂O, orthorhombic L-histidine and monoclinic L-histidine.

Five decades of homonuclear dipolar decoupling in solid-state NMR: Status and outlook

It has been slightly more than fifty years since the first homonuclear spin decoupling scheme, Lee-Goldburg decoupling, was proposed for removing homonuclear dipolar interactions in solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance. A family of such schemes has made observation of high-resolution NMR spectra of abundant spins possible in various applications in solid state. This review outlines the strategies used in this field and the future prospects of homonuclear spin decoupling in solid-state NMR.

Fast magic-angle sample spinning solid-state NMR at 60-100kHz for natural abundance samples

In spite of tremendous progress made in pulse sequence designs and sophisticated hardware developments, methods to improve sensitivity and resolution in solid-state NMR (ssNMR) are still emerging. The rate at which sample is spun at magic angle determines the extent to which sensitivity and resolution of NMR spectra are improved. To this end, the prime objective of this article is to give a comprehensive theoretical and experimental framework of fast magic angle spinning (MAS) technique. The engineering design of fast MAS rotors based on spinning rate, sample volume, and sensitivity is presented in detail. Besides, the benefits of fast MAS citing the recent progress in methodology, especially for natural abundance samples are also highlighted. The effect of the MAS rate on (1)H resolution, which is a key to the success of the (1)H inverse detection methods, is described by a simple mathematical factor named as the homogeneity factor k. A comparison between various (1)H inverse detection methods is also presented. Moreover, methods to reduce the number of spinning sidebands (SSBs) for the systems with huge anisotropies in combination with (1)H inverse detection at fast MAS are discussed.

Dynamic nuclear polarization at 40 kHz magic angle spinning

DNP-enhanced solid-state NMR spectroscopy under magic angle spinning (MAS) is rapidly developing into a powerful analytical tool to investigate the structure of a wide range of solid materials, because it provides unsurpassed sensitivity gains. Most developments and applications of DNP MAS NMR were so far reported at moderate spinning frequencies (up to 14 kHz using 3.2 mm rotors). Here, using a 1.3 mm MAS DNP probe operating at 18.8 T and ∼100 K, we show that signal amplification factors can be increased by up to a factor two when using smaller volume rotors as compared to 3.2 mm rotors, and report enhancements of around 60 over a range of sample spinning rates from 10 to 40 kHz. Spinning at 40 kHz is also shown to increase (29)Si coherence lifetimes by a factor three as compared to 10 kHz, substantially increasing sensitivity in CPMG type experiments. The contribution of quenching effects to the overall sensitivity gain at very fast MAS is evaluated, and applications are reported on a functionalised mesostructured organic-inorganic material.

Constant-time 2D and 3D through-bond correlation NMR spectroscopy of solids under 60 kHz MAS

Establishing connectivity and proximity of nuclei is an important step in elucidating the structure and dynamics of molecules in solids using magic angle spinning (MAS) NMR spectroscopy. Although recent studies have successfully demonstrated the feasibility of proton-detected multidimensional solid-state NMR experiments under ultrafast-MAS frequencies and obtaining high-resolution spectral lines of protons, assignment of proton resonances is a major challenge. In this study, we first re-visit and demonstrate the feasibility of 2D constant-time uniform-sign cross-peak correlation (CTUC-COSY) NMR experiment on rigid solids under ultrafast-MAS conditions, where the sensitivity of the experiment is enhanced by the reduced spin-spin relaxation rate and the use of low radio-frequency power for heteronuclear decoupling during the evolution intervals of the pulse sequence. In addition, we experimentally demonstrate the performance of a proton-detected pulse sequence to obtain a 3D (1)H/(13)C/(1)H chemical shift correlation spectrum by incorporating an additional cross-polarization period in the CTUC-COSY pulse sequence to enable proton chemical shift evolution and proton detection in the incrementable t1 and t3 periods, respectively. In addition to through-space and through-bond (13)C/(1)H and (13)C/(13)C chemical shift correlations, the 3D (1)H/(13)C/(1)H experiment also provides a COSY-type (1)H/(1)H chemical shift correlation spectrum, where only the chemical shifts of those protons, which are bonded to two neighboring carbons, are correlated. By extracting 2D F1/F3 slices ((1)H/(1)H chemical shift correlation spectrum) at different (13)C chemical shift frequencies from the 3D (1)H/(13)C/(1)H spectrum, resonances of proton atoms located close to a specific carbon atom can be identified. Overall, the through-bond and through-space homonuclear/heteronuclear proximities determined from the 3D (1)H/(13)C/(1)H experiment would be useful to study the structure and dynamics of a variety of chemical and biological solids.

Natural abundance 14N and 15N solid-state NMR of pharmaceuticals and their polymorphs

¹⁴N and ¹⁵N solid-state NMR at natural abundance are used in tandem for the investigation of pharmaceuticals and their polymorphs.

Proton-detected 3D (1)H/(13)C/(1)H correlation experiment for structural analysis in rigid solids under ultrafast-MAS above 60 kHz

A proton-detected 3D (1)H/(13)C/(1)H chemical shift correlation experiment is proposed for the assignment of chemical shift resonances, identification of (13)C-(1)H connectivities, and proximities of (13)C-(1)H and (1)H-(1)H nuclei under ultrafast magic-angle-spinning (ultrafast-MAS) conditions. Ultrafast-MAS is used to suppress all anisotropic interactions including (1)H-(1)H dipolar couplings, while the finite-pulse radio frequency driven dipolar recoupling (fp-RFDR) pulse sequence is used to recouple dipolar couplings among protons and the insensitive nuclei enhanced by polarization transfer technique is used to transfer magnetization between heteronuclear spins. The 3D experiment eliminates signals from non-carbon-bonded protons and non-proton-bonded carbons to enhance spectral resolution. The 2D (F1/F3) (1)H/(1)H and 2D (13)C/(1)H (F2/F3) chemical shift correlation spectra extracted from the 3D spectrum enable the identification of (1)H-(1)H proximity and (13)C-(1)H connectivity. In addition, the 2D (F1/F2) (1)H/(13)C chemical shift correlation spectrum, incorporated with proton magnetization exchange via the fp-RFDR recoupling of (1)H-(1)H dipolar couplings, enables the measurement of proximities between (13)C and even the remote non-carbon-bonded protons. The 3D experiment also gives three-spin proximities of (1)H-(1)H-(13)C chains. Experimental results obtained from powder samples of L-alanine and L-histidine ⋅ H2O ⋅ HCl demonstrate the efficiency of the 3D experiment.

Proton chemical shift tensors determined by 3D ultrafast MAS double-quantum NMR spectroscopy

Proton NMR spectroscopy in the solid state has recently attracted much attention owing to the significant enhancement in spectral resolution afforded by the remarkable advances in ultrafast magic angle spinning (MAS) capabilities. In particular, proton chemical shift anisotropy (CSA) has become an important tool for obtaining specific insights into inter/intra-molecular hydrogen bonding. However, even at the highest currently feasible spinning frequencies (110-120 kHz), (1)H MAS NMR spectra of rigid solids still suffer from poor resolution and severe peak overlap caused by the strong (1)H-(1)H homonuclear dipolar couplings and narrow (1)H chemical shift (CS) ranges, which render it difficult to determine the CSA of specific proton sites in the standard CSA/single-quantum (SQ) chemical shift correlation experiment. Herein, we propose a three-dimensional (3D) (1)H double-quantum (DQ) chemical shift/CSA/SQ chemical shift correlation experiment to extract the CS tensors of proton sites whose signals are not well resolved along the single-quantum chemical shift dimension. As extracted from the 3D spectrum, the F1/F3 (DQ/SQ) projection provides valuable information about (1)H-(1)H proximities, which might also reveal the hydrogen-bonding connectivities. In addition, the F2/F3 (CSA/SQ) correlation spectrum, which is similar to the regular 2D CSA/SQ correlation experiment, yields chemical shift anisotropic line shapes at different isotropic chemical shifts. More importantly, since the F2/F1 (CSA/DQ) spectrum correlates the CSA with the DQ signal induced by two neighboring proton sites, the CSA spectrum sliced at a specific DQ chemical shift position contains the CSA information of two neighboring spins indicated by the DQ chemical shift. If these two spins have different CS tensors, both tensors can be extracted by numerical fitting. We believe that this robust and elegant single-channel proton-based 3D experiment provides useful atomistic-level structural and dynamical information for a variety of solid systems that possess high proton density.

Proton-detected 3D (14)N/(14)N/(1)H isotropic shift correlation experiment mediated through (1)H-(1)H RFDR mixing on a natural abundant sample under ultrafast MAS

In this contribution, we have demonstrated a proton detection-based approach on a natural abundant powdered l-Histidine HCl-H2O sample at ultrafast magic angle spinning (MAS) to accomplish (14)N/(14)N correlation from a 3D (14)N/(14)N/(1)H isotropic shift correlation experiment mediated through (1)H finite-pulse radio frequency-driven recoupling (fp-RFDR). Herein the heteronuclear magnetization transfer between (14)N and (1)H has been achieved by HMQC experiment, whereas (14)N/(14)N correlation is attained through enhanced (1)H-(1)H spin diffusion process due to (1)H-(1)H dipolar recoupling during the RFDR mixing. While the use of ultrafast MAS (90kHz) provides sensitivity enhancement through increased (1)H transverse relaxation time (T2), the use of micro-coil probe which can withstand strong (14)N radio frequency (RF) fields further improves the sensitivity per unit sample volume.

Selective excitation enables assignment of proton resonances and (1)H-(1)H distance measurement in ultrafast magic angle spinning solid state NMR spectroscopy

Remarkable developments in ultrafast magic angle spinning (MAS) solid-state NMR spectroscopy enabled proton-based high-resolution multidimensional experiments on solids. To fully utilize the benefits rendered by proton-based ultrafast MAS experiments, assignment of (1)H resonances becomes absolutely necessary. Herein, we propose an approach to identify different proton peaks by using dipolar-coupled heteronuclei such as (13)C or (15)N. In this method, after the initial preparation of proton magnetization and cross-polarization to (13)C nuclei, transverse magnetization of desired (13)C nuclei is selectively prepared by using DANTE (Delays Alternating with Nutations for Tailored Excitation) sequence and then, it is transferred to bonded protons with a short-contact-time cross polarization. Our experimental results demonstrate that protons bonded to specific (13)C atoms can be identified and overlapping proton peaks can also be assigned. In contrast to the regular 2D HETCOR experiment, only a few 1D experiments are required for the complete assignment of peaks in the proton spectrum. Furthermore, the finite-pulse radio frequency driven recoupling sequence could be incorporated right after the selection of specific proton signals to monitor the intensity buildup for other proton signals. This enables the extraction of (1)H-(1)H distances between different pairs of protons. Therefore, we believe that the proposed method will greatly aid in fast assignment of peaks in proton spectra and will be useful in the development of proton-based multi-dimensional solid-state NMR experiments to study atomic-level resolution structure and dynamics of solids.