Homonuclear Hartmann-Hahn pulse sequence

For the practical implementation of Hartmann-Hahn experiments, the type of multiple-pulse sequence can be important (see Section III). Continuous wave (CW) irradiation represents the simplest homonuclear Hartmann-Hahn mixing sequence (Bax and Davis, 1985a). Simultaneous CW irradiation at the resonance frequencies of two heteronuclear spins is the simplest heteronuclear Hartmann-Hahn mixing sequence (Hartmann and Hahn, 1962). 

The ID homonuclear Hartmann-Hahn (HOHAHA) experiment is an excellent way to determine complete coupled spin networks (18). The following pulse sequence is used ... 

As demonstrated by Hartmann and Hahn (1962), energy-matched conditions can be created with the help of rf irradiation that generates matched effective fields (see Section IV). Although Hartmann and Hahn focused on applications in the solid state in their seminal paper, they also reported the first heteronuclear polarization-transfer experiments in the liquid state that were based on matched rf fields. A detailed analysis of heteronuclear Hartmann-Hahn transfer between scalar coupled spins was given by Muller and Ernst (1979) and by Chingas et al. (1981). Homonuclear Hartmann-Hahn transfer in liquids was first demonstrated by Braunschweiler and Ernst (1983). However, Hartmann-Hahn-type polarization-transfer experiments only found widespread application when robust multiple-pulse sequences for homonuclear and heteronuclear Hartmann-Hahn experiments became available (Bax and Davis, 1985b Shaka et al., 1988 Glaser and Drobny, 1990 Brown and Sanctuary, 1991 Ernst et al., 1991 Kadkhodaei et al., 1991) also see Sections X and XI). 

Although in general, only one multiple-pulse sequence is applied to homonuclear spin systems, it can be useful to apply different multiple-pulse sequences to several nuclear species at the same time by using separate rf channels. In heteronuclear Hartmann-Hahn experiments, the same multiple-pulse sequence is usually applied simultaneously to two or more nuclear species. However, some selective homonuclear Hartmann-Hahn experiments are also based on the simultaneous irradiation of a multiple-pulse sequence at two or more different frequencies (see Section X). If only a single homonuclear rf channel is used, this can be achieved experimentally by adding an amplitude or phase modulation to the sequence, in order to create appropriate irradiation sidebands (Konrat... 

Homonuclear or heteronuclear Hartmann-Hahn mixing periods are versatile experimental building blocks that form the basis of a large number of combination experiments (see Section XIII). In practice, the actual multiple-pulse sequence that creates Hartmann-Hahn mixing conditions can usually be treated as a black box with characteristic properties. In this section, design principles and practical approaches for the development of Hartmann-Hahn mixing sequences are discussed. 

Since the seminal paper of Braunschweiler and Ernst (1983), many experimental mixing schemes have been proposed for broadband homonuclear Hartmann-Hahn transfer. The most important mixing sequences are summarized in alphabetical order in Table 2. The listed names of the sequences are either acronyms that were proposed in the literature or acronyms composed from the initials of the authors who introduced them. For each sequence, the expansion scheme that is applied to the basic (composite) pulse R is indicated. For symmetric composite pulses R that can be decomposed into a composite pulse 5 and its time-reversed variant 5, only S is specified in Table 2 for simplicity and classification. For example, the composite 180° pulse R = 90 180 90 (Levitt and Freeman, 1979), which forms the basis of the MLEV-16 sequence, consists... 

Bax and co-workers demonstrated that a homonuclear Hartmann-Hahn transfer of net magnetization can be obtained by the application of a spin-lock field, using CW irradiation (Bax and Davis, 1985a Davis and Bax, 1985) or by the DB-1 sequence that consists of a series of phase-alternated spin-lock pulses (Davis and Bax, 1985). The homonuclear Hartmann-Hahn effect caused by CW irradiation was discovered when artifacts in ROESY experiments were analyzed (Bax and Davis, 1985a). CW irradiation can be regarded as a homonuclear analog of spin-lock experiments for heteronuclear cross-polarization (Hartmann and Hahn,... 

In addition to multiple-pulse sequences that were derived from heteronuclear decoupling experiments, a number of rf sequences have been specifically developed for homonuclear Hartmann-Hahn transfer. A systematic search for phase-alternated composite 180° pulses R expanded in an MLEV-16 supercycle was reported by Glaser and Drobny (1990). Several clusters of good sequences were found for the transfer of magnetization in the offset range of 0.Av. However, substantially improved Hartmann-Hahn sequences were found after the condition that restricted R to be an exact composite 180° pulse on-resonance was lifted. For example, the GD-2 sequence is based on R = 290° 390° 290°, which is a composite 190° pulse on-resonance and is one of the best sequences based on composite pulses of the form R = (Glaser and Drobny, 1990). 

Even larger usable bandwidths can be obtained for a given average rf power if clean homonuclear Hartmann-Hahn sequences are optimized from scratch (Briand and Ernst, 1991 Quant, 1992 Kadkhodaei et al., 1993 Mayr et al., 1993), rather than modifying existing uncompensated TOCSY sequences. The clean CITY sequence (see Fig. 26C, Table 3), which was developed by Briand and Ernst (1991), is still one of the most efficient broadband Hartmann-Hahn sequences with cross-relaxation compensation. The sequence is constructed using Method C and is based on the computer-optimized symmetric composite pulse R = SS with S = 48° 138° (see Fig. 22F, sequence 5g). The TOWNY (TOCSY without... 

Broadband Hartmann-Hahn sequences, such as DIPSI-2 or WALTZ-16, can be made band-selective by reducing the rf amplitude of the sequences (Brown and Sanctuary, 1991). Richardson et al. (1993) used a low-amplitude WALTZ-17 sequence for band-selective heteronuclear Hartmann-Hahn transfer between N and in order to minimize simultaneous homonuclear Hartmann-Hahn transfer between and The DIPSI-2 sequence was successfully used by Gardner and Coleman (1994) for band-selective Hartmann-Hahn transfer between C d and H spins. So far, no crafted multiple-pulse sequences have been reported that were optimized specifically for band-selective heteronuclear Hartmann-Hahn transfer. Based on the results of Section X, it is expected that such sequences with well defined regions for coherence transfer and effective homonuclear decoupling will result in increased sensitivity of band-selective heteronuclear Hartmann-Hahn experiments. 

Figure 5.48 The pulse sequence employed in 2D homonuclear Hartmann-Hahn spectroscopy. An extended MLEV-16 sequence is used. Trim pulses are applied before and after this pulse sequence in order to refocus the magnetization not parallel to the x-axis.

Phase-modulated multiple-pulse sequences with constant rf amplitude form a large class of homonuclear and heteronuclear Hartmann-Hahn sequences. WALTZ-16 (Shaka et al., 1983b) and DIPSI-2 (Shaka et al., 1988) are examples of windowless, phase-alternating Hartmann-Hahn sequences (see Table II). 

Under the idealized zero-quantum coupling topologies (see Section V.B), the transfer of magnetization between two spins 1 /2 that are part of an arbitrary coupling network is identical in both directions (see Section VI). This symmetry with respect to the direction of the transfer is related to the symmetry of homonuclear, two-dimensional Hartmann-Hahn spectra with respect to the diagonal (Griesinger et al., 1987a). In Hartmann-Hahn experiments, the properties of the multiple-pulse sequence can induce additional symmetry constraints (Ernst et al., 1991). 

Only recently, new multiple-pulse sequences that were developed specifically for broadband heteronuclear Hartmann-Hahn experiments in liquids were reported. The SHR-1 sequence developed by Sunitha Bai et al. (1994) consists of a windowless phase-alternated composite pulse R, which is expanded according to the MLEV-8 supercycle. R was optimized based on a phase-distortionless single-spin 180° composite pulse and is related to the composite pulses used in DIPSI-1 (Shaka et al., 1988) and the composite pulses in the homonuclear IICT-1 sequence (Sunitha Bai and Ramachandran, 1993). The bandwidth of the SHR-1 sequence is comparable to the bandwidth of DIPSI-3, albeit with a slightly reduced transfer efficiency (Sunitha Bai et al., 1994 Fig. 33F). 

Since the first description of the Hartmann-Hahn transfer in liquids, spectroscopists have been fascinated by this technique. Many theoretical and practical aspects have been thoroughly investigated by several groups. With the development of robust multiple-pulse sequences, homonuclear and heteronuclear Hartmann-Hahn transfer has become one of the most useful experimental building blocks in high-resolution NMR. 

As in the case of homonuclear correlations the heteronuclear Li,X TOCSY experiment, pulse sequence (viii), forms an alternative to the HETCOR and HMQC experiments introduced above. It has been tested for H, Li as well as H, Li shift correlations [147]. The MLEV16 decoupling sequence [148] was used for magnetization transfer, and Li as well as H detection was successful. An advantage of these experiments compared with correlation experiments based on the sequences (iii), (iv) and (v) must be seen in the fact that pure absorption spectra are produced. Signal elimination as a consequence of small coupling constants, as observed for antiphase crosspeaks, is thus prevented. On the other hand, adjusting the two decoupler fields to match the Hartmann-Hahn condition Y/Bi(7) = y,Bi(S) is not trivial and needs considerable experimental experience. 

General symmetry principles for rotor-synchronized pulse sequences in MAS solid-state NMR have been presented. The synunetry theory has been extended to the case of generalized Hartmann-Hahn sequences, in which rotor-synchronized r.f. irradiation is applied simultaneously to two isotopic spin species. The symmetry theory has been used to design pulse sequences which implement heteronuclear dipolar recoupling at the same time as decoupling homonuclear spin-spin interactions, and which also suppress CSAs. Experimental demonstrations of heteronuclear 2D correlation spectroscopy, heteronuclear MQ spectroscopy, and the estimation of intemuclear dipolar couplings have been given. 

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