Relaxation Editing in NMR Using a New Two-Dimensional Long-Lived Coherence Method for Mixture Analysis.

The exploration of metabolomics and targeted segments of proteins stands as a pivotal facet of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) analysis, furnishing valuable insights into molecular architectures and potential therapeutic applications. The issue of spectral congestion frequently presents challenges in ascribing distinct peaks within the confines of both one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) NMR spectra. Numerous strategies have been proposed to resolve specific resonances in NMR spectra differentially. Among these approaches, relaxation editing emerges as a viable solution. In the realm of relaxation phenomena within NMR, Long-Lived States (LLS) and Long-Lived Coherences (LLC) manifest as promising phenomena, offering enhanced relaxation lifetimes in comparison to the traditional longitudinal (T1) and transverse (T2) relaxation times for coupled nuclear spins. Notably, LLC presents a pathway to attenuate uncoupled high-intensity peaks, effectively diminishing their impact. The foundation of this technique rests upon the premise that the relaxation lifetime in the rotating frame (T1ρ) remains smaller than TLLC. In pursuit of refining spectral assignments within complex mixtures, we introduce a new pulse sequence tailored for LLC Total Correlation Spectroscopy (LLC-TOCSY). This demonstrates efficacy in extracting LLC signals within configurations involving multiple coupled spins, thereby decluttering the spectrum and enhancing the accuracy of peak assignments. To validate the effectiveness of this method, a collection of samples was subjected to scrutiny, yielding compelling results.

Bispidine as a promising scaffold for designing molecular machines.

The development of artificial molecular machines is a challenging endeavor. Herein, we have synthesized a series of bispidine diamides D1-D6 that exhibit rotation reminiscent of a motor motion. Dynamic NMR, X-ray diffraction, quantum mechanical calculations, and molecular dynamics simulations provided insights into their rotational dynamics. All the diamides D1-D6 exhibited mutually independent rotation around the two bispidine arms. However, the rate of rotation and the presence or absence of directionality in amide bond rotation were found to depend on the solvent, temperature, and nature of substitution on the amide carbonyl. These engineered systems may aid in the development of biologically relevant synthetic molecular motors. Studies on homochiral and heterochiral bispidine-peptides revealed that the direction of rotation can be controlled by chirality and the nature of the amino acid.

Long-Lived States Provide Insights from NMR into the ß-Cyclodextrin Drug Assemblies.

In the last two decades, extending spin memory in NMR has been used for several purposes. Long-lived states (LLS) or singlet states are one of the first spin memory enhancement techniques used. LLS have the potential to extract structural information and intra- and intermolecular interactions of complex systems other than studying slow phenomenon. The motional regime of ß-cyclodextrin (ß-CD) drug inclusion complexes generally lies in the intermediate region, where ωτc ≈ 1, and the standard methods of studying these interactions, i.e., NOE and chemical shift monitoring, suffer from insufficient output information. The sensitivity of LLS toward the environmental changes is utilized here to gain insights into the drug assemblies formed by ß-CD. One can use change in relaxation of LLS to study the structural changes during complexation. The examples of ß-CD with the drugs indomethacin, paracetamol, gliclazide, and CI-933 (a precursor 4-methoxybenzamide) were studied. Indomethacin, paracetamol, and 4-methoxybenzamide show strong interaction through the para-substituted benzene ring, unlike gliclazide. Relaxation of LLS in ß-CD-drug complexes is modeled using standard Redfield Relaxation Theory. Computational studies performed support the experimental observations. Docking and molecular dynamics simulation provided the explanation of the relaxation properties of these drug molecules.

Revealing Signs and Hidden 1H NMR Coupling Constants in Three-Spin Systems Using Long-Lived Coherences.

Long-lived coherences (LLCs) in a pair of coupled protons have long lifetimes and hence decreased line width and increased spectral resolution. Fourier transformation of the damped oscillatory decay of the LLC also provides coupling information on the spin system. In a three-spin system, unlike in the two-spin case, the peaks in an LLC spectrum are observed at combinations of the coupling constants. This attribute is used to determine the relative signs of the coupling constants in weakly and strongly coupled model systems. In addition, it is shown that a coupling constant in a three-spin system that is unobservable in the 1H NMR spectrum, as is the case in bispidinone, a molecule of significance in peptidomimetics, may be determined from the LLC spectrum.

Relaxation Editing Using Long-Lived States and Coherences for Analysis of Mixtures.

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a powerful tool for structural and dynamical studies of molecules. Although widely applicable, the search for novel spectral editing methods that facilitate spectral assignment of peaks in high-resolution NMR is highly desirable. Earlier, the sensitivity of lifetime of spin states (spin-lattice relaxation time, T1) and coherences (spin-spin relaxation time, T2) to the immediate environment was utilized for spectral editing in solution NMR. Long-lived states (LLS) and coherences (LLCs) were recently uncovered to have longer and more domain sensitive lifetime than other type of states and coherences. Herein, this longevity and increased sensitivity of LLS and LLC lifetime is utilized for more enhanced dispersion in relaxation editing in NMR. The generality of the method as a powerful tool in spectral editing is confirmed with molecules containing a mixture of strongly and weakly coupled spin systems and finally with metabolomic mixture. Extension to insensitive nuclei enhanced by polarization transfer (INEPT), correlation spectroscopy (COSY), and heteronuclear single quantum coherence (HSQC) are also demonstrated.

Intramolecular Excimer Formation Dynamics of 1,3-Bis-(1-pyrenyl)propane within 1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium Hexafluorophosphate and Its Polyethylene Glycol Mixtures.

Mixtures of ionic liquid with polyethylene glycol (PEG) have shown interesting features as solubilizing media. Intramolecular excimer formation dynamics of 1,3-bis-(1-pyrenyl)propane [1Py(3)1Py] is investigated within mixtures of a common and popular ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([bmim][PF6]) with PEGs of average molecular weight (MW) 200 (PEG200), average MW 400 (PEG400), number-average MW Mn 570-630 (PEG600), and number-average MW Mn 950-1050 (PEG1000) over the complete composition range at a 10° interval in the temperature range 10-90 °C. Irrespective of the composition of the medium and the temperature, excited-state intensity decay of the excimer fluorescence best fits to a three-exponential decay function, suggesting the presence of one excited-state monomer and two kinetically distinguishable excimers where both excimers are populated simultaneously by the excited monomer with no interconversion between the two excimers. In neat PEGs for temperatures ≤ 50 °C, intensity decay data of monomer fluorescence best fits to a single-exponential decay function, which implies the dissociation of both excimers back to the monomer to be insignificant. As the temperature is increased, the fits become closer to a double-exponential decay function, implying dissociation of one of the excimers to become significant. In neat [bmim][PF6], while a double-exponential decay function is required to fit the monomer excited-state intensity decay data at lower temperatures, three exponentials are required to satisfactorily fit the data at higher temperatures, suggesting both excimers significantly dissociate back to the monomer at higher temperatures within the ionic liquid. Within long-chain PEG-containing ([bmim][PF6] + PEG) mixtures, PEG as opposed to [bmim][PF6] controls the excimer formation dynamics by supposedly wrapping around the excimer, thus hindering dissociation back to the monomer. The overall rate constant of the excimer formation within ([bmim][PF6] + PEG) mixtures is found to scale better with the microviscosity rather than the bulk viscosity of the mixtures.

Paramagnetic relaxation of long-lived coherences in solution NMR.

Long-lived coherences (LLCs) are known to have lifetimes much longer than transverse magnetization or single quantum coherences (SQCs). The effect of paramagnetic ions on the relaxation of LLCs is not known. This is particularly important, as LLCs have potential applications in various fields like analytical NMR, in vivo NMR and MR imaging methods. We study here the behaviour of LLCs in the presence of paramagnetic relaxation agents. The stepwise increase in the concentration of the metal ion is followed by measuring various relaxation rates. The effect of paramagnetic ions is analysed in terms of the external random field's contribution to the relaxation of two coupled protons in 2,3,6-trichlorobenzaldehyde. The LLCs relax faster than ordinary SQCs in the presence of paramagnetic ions of varying character. This is explained on the basis of an increase in the contribution of the external random field to relaxation due to a paramagnetic relaxation mechanism. Comparison is also made with ordinary Zeeman relaxation rates like R1, R2, R1ρ and also with rate of relaxation of long-lived states RLLS which are known to be less sensitive to paramagnetically induced relaxation. Also, the extent of correlation of random fields at two proton sites is studied and is found to be strongly correlated with each other. The obtained correlation constant is found to be independent of the nature of added paramagnetic impurities.

Heteronuclear dipolar decoupling in solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance under ultra-high magic-angle spinning.

We compare in this communication several heteronuclear dipolar decoupling sequences in solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance experiments under a magic-angle spinning frequency of 60 kHz. The decoupling radiofrequency field amplitudes considered are 190 and 10 kHz. No substantial difference was found among the sequences considered here in performance barring the difference in the optimisation protocol of the various schemes, an aspect that favours the use of swept-frequency two pulse phase modulation (SW(f)-TPPM).

Supercycled SW(f)-TPPM sequence for heteronuclear dipolar decoupling in solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance.

The performance of a supercycled SW(f)-TPPM sequence for heteronuclear dipolar decoupling in solid-state NMR is analyzed here. The decoupling performance of this sequence with respect to experimental parameters, such as, the phase angle, proton offset and MAS frequency is studied. A comparison is made with two other commonly used decoupling schemes in solid-state NMR namely, SPINAL-64 and SW(f)-TPPM, on a sample of U-¹³C-labeled tyrosine. Our results show that supercycled SW(f)-TPPM performs better than the former sequences. Also, numerical spin dynamics studies are presented which support the experimentally observed efficiency in the decoupling.

Ionic liquid-induced unprecedented size enhancement of aggregates within aqueous sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate.

Physicochemical properties of aqueous micellar solutions may change in the presence of ionic liquids (ILs). Micelles help to increase the aqueous solubility of ILs. The average size of the micellar aggregates within aqueous sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS) is observed by dynamic light scattering (DLS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to increase in a sudden and drastic fashion as the IL 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([bmim][PF(6)]) is added. Similar addition of [bmim][PF(6)] to aqueous sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) results in only a slow gradual increase in average aggregate size. While addition of the IL [bmim][BF(4)] also gives rise to sudden aggregate size enhancement within aqueous SDBS, the IL 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([emim][BF(4)]), and inorganic salts NaPF(6) and NaBF(4), only gradually increase the assembly size upon their addition. Bulk dynamic viscosity, microviscosity, dipolarity (indicated by the fluorescent reporter pyrene), zeta potential, and electrical conductance measurements were taken to gain insight into this unusual size enhancement. It is proposed that bmim(+) cations of the IL undergo Coulombic attractive interactions with anionic headgroups at the micellar surface at all [bmim][PF(6)] concentrations in aqueous SDS; in aqueous SDBS, beyond a critical IL concentration, bmim(+) becomes involved in cation-π interaction with the phenyl moiety of SDBS within micellar aggregates with the butyl group aligned along the alkyl chain of the surfactant. This relocation of bmim(+) results in an unprecedented size increase in micellar aggregates. Aromaticity of the IL cation alongside the presence of sufficiently aliphatic (butyl or longer) alkyl chains on the IL appear to be essential for this dramatic critical expansion in self-assembly dimensions within aqueous SDBS.

Heteronuclear dipolar decoupling in liquid-crystal NMR using supercycled SW(f)-TPPM sequences.

Heteronuclear dipolar decoupling is an essential requirement for extracting structural information from the (13)C NMR spectra of liquid crystals. Efficient schemes for heteronuclear dipolar decoupling in such systems are formulated here by supercycling SW(f)-TPPM, a sequence introduced recently for this purpose in rotating solids. These sequences are compared with two other commonly used decoupling schemes in liquid-crystal NMR, SPINAL-64 and SW(f)-TPPM, by analyzing the intensities of various resonances in the proton decoupled (13)C spectrum of the liquid-crystal 4-n-pentyl-4'-cyanobiphenyl (5CB). The effectiveness of the decoupling programs with respect to experimental parameters such as RF field strength, decoupler offset frequency and phase angle is also presented.

Efficient heteronuclear dipolar decoupling in solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance at rotary resonance conditions.

We introduce here a heteronuclear dipolar decoupling scheme in solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance that performs efficiently at the rotary resonance conditions, where otherwise dipolar couplings are re-introduced. Results are shown proving the efficiency of this scheme at two magnetic fields under magic-angle spinning frequencies of 30 and 20 kHz.

Swept-frequency two-pulse phase modulation (SWf-TPPM) sequences with linear sweep profile for heteronuclear decoupling in solid-state NMR.

Recently, a pulse scheme for heteronuclear spin decoupling in solid-state NMR, called swept-frequency two-pulse phase modulation (SW(f)-TPPM), was introduced which outperforms the standard TPPM and small phase incremental alteration (SPINAL) schemes. It has also been shown that the frequency-sweep profile can be varied to achieve optimal efficiency for crystalline and liquid-crystalline samples, respectively. Here we present a detailed comparison of the proton decoupling performance for SW(f)-TPPM sequences with tangential sweep profiles (SW(f) (tan)-TPPM) and linear sweep profiles (SW(f) (lin)-TPPM). Using the (13)CH(2) resonance of crystalline tyrosine as a model system, it is shown that linear profiles have a decoupling performance which is at least as good and in some instances slightly better than that obtained from tangential sweep profiles. While tangential sweep profiles require a tangent cut-off angle as an additional parameter, the lack of that parameter makes linear sweep profiles easier to implement and optimise.

An analysis of phase-modulated heteronuclear dipolar decoupling sequences in solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance.

The design of variants of the swept-frequency two-pulse phase modulation sequence for heteronuclear dipolar decoupling in solid-state NMR is reported, their performance evaluated, and compared with other established sequences like TPPM and SPINAL. Simulations performed to probe the role of the homonuclear (1)H-(1)H bath show that the robustness of the decoupling schemes improves with the size of the bath. In addition, these simulations reveal that the homonuclear (1)H-(1)H bath also leads to broad baselines at high MAS rates. Results from a study of the SPINAL decoupling scheme indicate that optimisation of the starting phase and phase increment improves its performance and efficiency at high MAS rates. Additionally, experiments performed on a liquid crystal display the role of the initial phase in SPINAL-64 and sequences in the SW(f)-TPPM family.

An experimental study of decoupling sequences for multiple-quantum and high-resolution MAS experiments in solid-state NMR.

Recently, a sequence for heteronuclear dipolar decoupling in solid-state NMR, namely SWf-TPPM, was introduced by us. Under magic-angle spinning (MAS), the decoupling efficiency of the sequence was unaffected over a range of values for various experimental parameters such as the pulse length, pulse phase, and 1H resonance offset. We here demonstrate its use in multiple-quantum (MQ) and high-resolution (HR) MAS experiments. This sequence further improves the MQMAS spectra compared to the earlier reported decoupling sequences with improved immunity to any missets of the pulse length, pulse phase and decoupler offset. In contrast, for HRMAS, the simple CW scheme is as efficient as any of the decoupling schemes that were studied.

Bimodal Floquet description of heteronuclear dipolar decoupling in solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance.

A theoretical treatment of heteronuclear dipolar decoupling in solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance is presented here based on bimodal Floquet theory. The conditions necessary for good heteronuclear decoupling are derived. An analysis of a few of the decoupling schemes implemented until date is presented with regard to satisfying such decoupling conditions and efficiency of decoupling. Resonance conditions for efficient heteronuclear dipolar decoupling are derived with and without the homonuclear (1)H-(1)H dipolar couplings and their influence on heteronuclear dipolar decoupling is pointed out. The analysis points to the superior efficiency of the newly introduced swept two-pulse phase-modulation (SW(f)-TPPM) sequence. It is shown that the experimental robustness of SW(f)-TPPM as compared to the original TPPM sequence results from an adiabatic sweeping of the modulation frequencies. Based on this finding alternative strategies are compared here. The theoretical findings are corroborated by both numerical simulations and representative experiments.

Improved heteronuclear dipolar decoupling sequences for liquid-crystal NMR.

Recently we introduced a radiofrequency pulse scheme for heteronuclear dipolar decoupling in solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance under magic-angle spinning [R.S. Thakur, N.D. Kurur, P.K. Madhu, Swept-frequency two-pulse phase modulation for heteronuclear dipolar decoupling in solid-state NMR, Chem. Phys. Lett. 426 (2006) 459-463]. Variants of this sequence, swept-frequency TPPM, employing frequency modulation of different types have been further tested to improve the efficiency of heteronuclear dipolar decoupling. Among these, certain sequences that were found to perform well at lower spinning speeds are demonstrated here on a liquid-crystal sample of MBBA for application in static samples. The new sequences are compared with the standard TPPM and SPINAL schemes and are shown to perform better than them. These modulated schemes perform well at low decoupler radiofrequency power levels and are easy to implement on standard spectrometers.

Multiple quantum inversion in scalar coupled systems with amplitude modulated temporally overlapped pulses.

In this paper we propose the extension of stimulated Raman adiabatic passage, a popular technique in optics for population inversion in three-level systems, to the NMR regime. The technique employs two amplitude modulated pulses-the first connecting the final and intermediate states followed by a second partially overlapped in time with it and connecting the ground and intermediate states. We present computer simulations demonstrating the applicability of the technique in NMR although we are no longer dealing with "pure" states, unlike in optics. Double quantum population inversion in two- and three-spin scalar coupled systems provides experimental support to our proposal.