Selective measurements of long-range homonuclear J-couplings in solid-state NMR
Abstract
We demonstrate here that the principle of frequency-selective spin-echoes can be extended to the measurements of long-range homonuclear scalar J-couplings in the solid-state. Singly or doubly frequency-selective pulses were used to generate either a J-modulated experiment (S) or a reference experiment (S-0). The combination of these two distinct experiments provides experimental data that, in favorable cases, are insensitive to incoherent relaxation effects, and which can be used to estimate long-range homonuclear J-couplings in multiple spin-systems. The concept is illustrated in the case of a uniformly C-13 and N-15 labeled sample of L-histidine, where the absolute value of homonuclear J-couplings between two spins separated by one, two or three covalent bonds are measured. Moreover, we show that a (2)J(N-15-C-N-15) coupling as small as 0.9 Hz can be precisely measured with the method presented here. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.