Solvent suppression

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An NMR tube with a sample dissolved in a solvent NMR sample.JPG
An NMR tube with a sample dissolved in a solvent

Solvent suppression is any technique in nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) to decrease undesired signal from a sample's solvent. [1]

Introduction

In liquid-state NMR spectroscopy, the sample to be studied is dissolved in a solvent. Typically, the concentration of the solvent is much higher than the concentration of the solutes of interest. The signal from the solvent can overwhelm that of the solute, and the NMR instrument may not collect any meaningful data. Solvent suppression techniques are particularly important in protein NMR where the solvent often includes H2O as well as D2O. [2]

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy</span> Laboratory technique

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance</span>

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C
isotope. The main carbon isotope, 12
C
is not detected. Although much less sensitive than 1H NMR spectroscopy, 13C NMR spectroscopy is widely used for characterizing organic and organometallic compounds.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nuclear magnetic resonance quantum computer</span> Proposed spin-based quantum computer implementation

Nuclear magnetic resonance quantum computing (NMRQC) is one of the several proposed approaches for constructing a quantum computer, that uses the spin states of nuclei within molecules as qubits. The quantum states are probed through the nuclear magnetic resonances, allowing the system to be implemented as a variation of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. NMR differs from other implementations of quantum computers in that it uses an ensemble of systems, in this case molecules, rather than a single pure state.

In a chemical analysis, the internal standard method involves adding the same amount of a chemical substance to each sample and calibration solution. The internal standard responds proportionally to changes in the analyte and provides a similar, but not identical, measurement signal. It must also be absent from the sample matrix to ensure there is no other source of the internal standard present. Taking the ratio of analyte signal to internal standard signal and plotting it against the analyte concentrations in the calibration solutions will result in a calibration curve. The calibration curve can then be used to calculate the analyte concentration in an unknown sample.

In nuclear chemistry and nuclear physics, J-couplings are mediated through chemical bonds connecting two spins. It is an indirect interaction between two nuclear spins that arises from hyperfine interactions between the nuclei and local electrons. In NMR spectroscopy, J-coupling contains information about relative bond distances and angles. Most importantly, J-coupling provides information on the connectivity of chemical bonds. It is responsible for the often complex splitting of resonance lines in the NMR spectra of fairly simple molecules.

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Physical organic chemistry, a term coined by Louis Hammett in 1940, refers to a discipline of organic chemistry that focuses on the relationship between chemical structures and reactivity, in particular, applying experimental tools of physical chemistry to the study of organic molecules. Specific focal points of study include the rates of organic reactions, the relative chemical stabilities of the starting materials, reactive intermediates, transition states, and products of chemical reactions, and non-covalent aspects of solvation and molecular interactions that influence chemical reactivity. Such studies provide theoretical and practical frameworks to understand how changes in structure in solution or solid-state contexts impact reaction mechanism and rate for each organic reaction of interest.

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Carbohydrate NMR spectroscopy is the application of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to structural and conformational analysis of carbohydrates. This method allows the scientists to elucidate structure of monosaccharides, oligosaccharides, polysaccharides, glycoconjugates and other carbohydrate derivatives from synthetic and natural sources. Among structural properties that could be determined by NMR are primary structure, saccharide conformation, stoichiometry of substituents, and ratio of individual saccharides in a mixture. Modern high field NMR instruments used for carbohydrate samples, typically 500 MHz or higher, are able to run a suite of 1D, 2D, and 3D experiments to determine a structure of carbohydrate compounds.

Nuclear magnetic resonance decoupling is a special method used in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy where a sample to be analyzed is irradiated at a certain frequency or frequency range to eliminate fully or partially the effect of coupling between certain nuclei. NMR coupling refers to the effect of nuclei on each other in atoms within a couple of bonds distance of each other in molecules. This effect causes NMR signals in a spectrum to be split into multiple peaks. Decoupling fully or partially eliminates splitting of the signal between the nuclei irradiated and other nuclei such as the nuclei being analyzed in a certain spectrum. NMR spectroscopy and sometimes decoupling can help determine structures of chemical compounds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nuclear magnetic resonance</span> Spectroscopic technique based on change of nuclear spin state

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a physical phenomenon in which nuclei in a strong constant magnetic field are perturbed by a weak oscillating magnetic field and respond by producing an electromagnetic signal with a frequency characteristic of the magnetic field at the nucleus. This process occurs near resonance, when the oscillation frequency matches the intrinsic frequency of the nuclei, which depends on the strength of the static magnetic field, the chemical environment, and the magnetic properties of the isotope involved; in practical applications with static magnetic fields up to ca. 20 tesla, the frequency is similar to VHF and UHF television broadcasts (60–1000 MHz). NMR results from specific magnetic properties of certain atomic nuclei. Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy is widely used to determine the structure of organic molecules in solution and study molecular physics and crystals as well as non-crystalline materials. NMR is also routinely used in advanced medical imaging techniques, such as in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Nucleic acid NMR is the use of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to obtain information about the structure and dynamics of nucleic acid molecules, such as DNA or RNA. It is useful for molecules of up to 100 nucleotides, and as of 2003, nearly half of all known RNA structures had been determined by NMR spectroscopy.

Triple resonance experiments are a set of multi-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) experiments that link three types of atomic nuclei, most typically consisting of 1H, 15N and 13C. These experiments are often used to assign specific resonance signals to specific atoms in an isotopically-enriched protein. The technique was first described in papers by Ad Bax, Mitsuhiko Ikura and Lewis Kay in 1990, and further experiments were then added to the suite of experiments. Many of these experiments have since become the standard set of experiments used for sequential assignment of NMR resonances in the determination of protein structure by NMR. They are now an integral part of solution NMR study of proteins, and they may also be used in solid-state NMR.

A Benchtop nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer refers to a Fourier transform nuclear magnetic resonance (FT-NMR) spectrometer that is significantly more compact and portable than the conventional equivalents, such that it is portable and can reside on a laboratory benchtop. This convenience comes from using permanent magnets, which have a lower magnetic field and decreased sensitivity compared to the much larger and more expensive cryogen cooled superconducting NMR magnets. Instead of requiring dedicated infrastructure, rooms and extensive installations these benchtop instruments can be placed directly on the bench in a lab and moved as necessary. These spectrometers offer improved workflow, even for novice users, as they are simpler and easy to use. They differ from relaxometers in that they can be used to measure high resolution NMR spectra and are not limited to the determination of relaxation or diffusion parameters.

References

  1. Gonen, O.; Johnson, G. (August 1993). "Solvent Suppression by Selective Signal Subtraction, a Time-Domain Negative-Feedback Dynamic-Range-Compression Method for Proton NMR Spectroscopy". Journal of Magnetic Resonance, Series B. 102 (1): 98–102. Bibcode:1993JMRB..102...98G. doi:10.1006/jmrb.1993.1068.
  2. "Solvent suppression in 1D proton NMR" . Retrieved 17 January 2015.