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.

Origin of the residual line width under frequency-switched Lee-Goldburg decoupling in MAS solid-state NMR

Homonuclear decoupling sequences in solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) under magic-angle spinning (MAS) show experimentally significantly larger residual line width than expected from Floquet theory to second order. We present an in-depth theoretical and experimental analysis of the origin of the residual line width under decoupling based on frequency-switched Lee-Goldburg (FSLG) sequences. We analyze the effect of experimental pulse-shape errors (e.g., pulse transients and B 1 -field inhomogeneities) and use a Floquet-theory-based description of higher-order error terms that arise from the interference between the MAS rotation and the pulse sequence. It is shown that the magnitude of the third-order auto term of a single homo- or heteronuclear coupled spin pair is important and leads to significant line broadening under FSLG decoupling. Furthermore, we show the dependence of these third-order error terms on the angle of the effective field with the B 0 field. An analysis of second-order cross terms is presented that shows that the influence of three-spin terms is small since they are averaged by the pulse sequence. The importance of the inhomogeneity of the radio-frequency (rf) field is discussed and shown to be the main source of residual line broadening while pulse transients do not seem to play an important role. Experimentally, the influence of the combination of these error terms is shown by using restricted samples and pulse-transient compensation. The results show that all terms are additive but the major contribution to the residual line width comes from the rf-field inhomogeneity for the standard implementation of FSLG sequences, which is significant even for samples with a restricted volume.

High-resolution 1H NMR of powdered solids by homonuclear dipolar decoupling

The development of homonuclear dipolar decoupling sequences to obtain high-resolution ¹H NMR spectra from solids has recently celebrated its 50th birthday. Over the years, a series of different decoupling schemes have been developed, starting with the pioneering Lee-Goldburg and WAHUHA sequences up to the most recent generation of experimentally optimized phase-modulated schemes such as eDUMBO-1₂₂ and LG4. These schemes can all yield over an order of magnitude reduction in ¹H NMR linewidths in solids. Here we provide an overview and a broad experimental comparison of the performance of the main sequences, which has so far been absent in the literature, especially between the newest and the oldest decoupling schemes. We compare experimental results obtained using eight different decoupling schemes (LG, WHH-4, MREV-8, BR-24, FSLG/PMLG, DUMBO-1, eDUMBO-1₂₂ and LG4) on three different microcrystalline powdered samples (alanine, glycine and β-AspAla) and at three different MAS rates (3.0, 12.5 and 22.0 kHz). Finally, since these sequences can be technically demanding, we describe the experimental protocol we have used to optimize these schemes with the aim to provide simple guidelines for the optimization of CRAMPS experiments for all NMR users.

1H line width dependence on MAS speed in solid state NMR - Comparison of experiment and simulation

Recent developments in magic angle spinning (MAS) technology permit spinning frequencies of ≥100 kHz. We examine the effect of such fast MAS rates upon nuclear magnetic resonance proton line widths in the multi-spin system of β-Asp-Ala crystal. We perform powder pattern simulations employing Fokker-Plank approach with periodic boundary conditions and ¹H-chemical shift tensors calculated using the bond polarization theory. The theoretical predictions mirror well the experimental results. Both approaches demonstrate that homogeneous broadening has a linear-quadratic dependency on the inverse of the MAS spinning frequency and that, at the faster end of the spinning frequencies, the residual spectral line broadening becomes dominated by chemical shift distributions and susceptibility effects even for crystalline systems.

Does Z' equal 1 or 2? Enhanced powder NMR crystallography verification of a disordered room temperature crystal structure of a p38 inhibitor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

The crystal structure of the Form A polymorph of N-cyclopropyl-3-fluoro-4-methyl-5-[3-[[1-[2-[2-(methylamino)ethoxy]phenyl]cyclopropyl]amino]-2-oxo-pyrazin-1-yl]benzamide (i.e., AZD7624), determined using single-crystal X-ray diffraction (scXRD) at 100 K, contains two molecules in the asymmetric unit (Z' = 2) and has regions of local static disorder. This substance has been in phase IIa drug development trials for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a disease which affects over 300 million people and contributes to nearly 3 million deaths annually. While attempting to verify the crystal structure using nuclear magnetic resonance crystallography (NMRX), we measured ¹³C solid-state NMR (SSNMR) spectra at 295 K that appeared consistent with Z' = 1 rather than Z' = 2. To understand this surprising observation, we used multinuclear SSNMR (¹H, ¹³C, ¹⁵N), gauge-including projector augmented-wave density functional theory (GIPAW DFT) calculations, crystal structure prediction (CSP), and powder XRD (pXRD) to determine the room temperature crystal structure. Due to the large size of AZD7624 (ca. 500 amu, 54 distinct ¹³C environments for Z' = 2), static disorder at 100 K, and (as we show) dynamic disorder at ambient temperatures, NMR spectral assignment was a challenge. We introduce a method to enhance confidence in NMR assignments by comparing experimental ¹³C isotropic chemical shifts against site-specific DFT-calculated shift distributions established using CSP-generated crystal structures. The assignment and room temperature NMRX structure determination process also included measurements of ¹³C shift tensors and the observation of residual dipolar coupling between ¹³C and ¹⁴N. CSP generated ca. 90 reasonable candidate structures (Z' = 1 and Z' = 2), which when coupled with GIPAW DFT results, room temperature pXRD, and the assigned SSNMR data, establish Z' = 2 at room temperature. We find that the polymorphic Form A of AZD7624 is maintained at room temperature, although dynamic disorder is present on the NMR timescale. Of the CSP-generated structures, 2 are found to be fully consistent with the SSNMR and pXRD data; within this pair, they are found to be structurally very similar (RMSD₁₆ = 0.30 Å). We establish that the CSP structure in best agreement with the NMR data possesses the highest degree of structural similarity with the scXRD-determined structure (RMSD₁₆ = 0.17 Å), and has the lowest DFT-calculated energy amongst all CSP-generated structures with Z' = 2.

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.

Minimizing the effects of RF inhomogeneity and phase transients allows resolution of two peaks in the (1)H CRAMPS NMR spectrum of adamantane

One of the limiting factors to achieving highly resolved (1)H NMR spectra with (1)H homonuclear decoupling sequences is imperfections in the applied radiofrequency (RF) pulses, most notably phase transients and RF inhomogeneity. Through a series of simulations and solid-state NMR experiments, it is demonstrated that the combined effects of phase transients and RF inhomogeneity can be minimized by a combination of (i) restricting the sample to small volume of the rotor, (ii) by employing a super-cycled version of the DUMBO decoupling sequence, and (iii) by carefully adjusting the probe tuning such that the asymmetric component of phase transients is minimized. Under these optimal conditions, it was possible to clearly resolve two signals in the (1)H CRAMPS NMR spectrum of adamantane arising from the CH and CH2 protons in the molecule. It is proposed that adamantane could be a very useful setup sample for (1)H CRAMPS NMR as the two peaks are only resolved when the effects of RF inhomogeneity and phase transients are minimized.

Improving the resolution in proton-detected through-space heteronuclear multiple quantum correlation NMR spectroscopy

Connectivities and proximities between protons and low-gamma nuclei can be probed in solid-state NMR spectroscopy using two-dimensional (2D) proton-detected heteronuclear correlation, through Heteronuclear Multiple Quantum Correlation (HMQC) pulse sequence. The indirect detection via protons dramatically enhances the sensitivity. However, the spectra are often broadened along the indirect F1 dimension by the decay of heteronuclear multiple-quantum coherences under the strong (1)H-(1)H dipolar couplings. This work presents a systematic comparison of the performances of various decoupling schemes during the indirect t1 evolution period of dipolar-mediated HMQC (D-HMQC) experiment. We demonstrate that (1)H-(1)H dipolar decoupling sequences during t1, such as symmetry-based schemes, phase-modulated Lee-Goldburg (PMLG) and Decoupling Using Mind-Boggling Optimization (DUMBO), provide better resolution than continuous wave (1)H irradiation. We also report that high resolution requires the preservation of (1)H isotropic chemical shifts during the decoupling sequences. When observing indirectly broad spectra presenting numerous spinning sidebands, the D-HMQC sequence must be fully rotor-synchronized owing to the rotor-synchronized indirect sampling and dipolar recoupling sequence employed. In this case, we propose a solution to reduce artefact sidebands caused by the modulation of window delays before and after the decoupling application during the t1 period. Moreover, we show that (1)H-(1)H dipolar decoupling sequence using Smooth Amplitude Modulation (SAM) minimizes the t1-noise. The performances of the various decoupling schemes are assessed via numerical simulations and compared to 2D (1)H-{(13)C} D-HMQC experiments on [U-(13)C]-L-histidine⋅HCl⋅H2O at various magnetic fields and Magic Angle spinning (MAS) frequencies. Great resolution and sensitivity enhancements resulting from decoupling during t1 period enable the detection of heteronuclear correlation between aliphatic protons and ammonium (14)N sites in L-histidine⋅HCl⋅H2O.

Solid-State NMR Spectroscopy of Metal–Organic Framework Compounds (MOFs)

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is a well-established method for the investigation of various types of porous materials. During the past decade, metal–organic frameworks have attracted increasing research interest. Solid-state NMR spectroscopy has rapidly evolved into an important tool for the study of the structure, dynamics and flexibility of these materials, as well as for the characterization of host–guest interactions with adsorbed species such as xenon, carbon dioxide, water, and many others. The present review introduces and highlights recent developments in this rapidly growing field.