NMR solvent peak suppression by nonlinear excitation

Abstract

Most existing NMR solvent peak suppression sequences provide a satisfactory dependence of the intensity of excited signals on frequency but poor phase characteristics. In practice this leads to spectral distortions which generally become more severe as the frequency selectivity of the sequence is increased. However, it is shown that by working well outside the linear response regime, excitation schemes which combine high frequency selectivity with good phase properties may be devised. Sequences of six rectangular radio‐frequency pulses were discovered using a combination of coherent averaging theory to treat the near‐resonant behavior and numerical simulation further from resonance. Extensive use of symmetry greatly simplifies both the coherent averaging calculations and the numerical simulations. The new pulse sequences have been given the acronym NERO (nonlinear excitation rejecting on‐resonance). Experimental spectra of an enzyme in dilute aqueous solution are shown.