New Technique Boosts Protein NMR Imaging Speeds

Solid-state NMR (SSNMR) spectroscopy is a kind of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, characterized by the presence of anisotropic (directionally dependent) interactions.

Basic concepts: A spin interacts with a magnetic or an electric field. Spatial proximity and/or a chemical bond between two atoms can give rise to interactions between nuclei. In general, these interactions are orientation dependent. In media with no or little mobility (e.g. crystals, powders, large membrane vesicles, molecular aggregates), anisotropic interactions have a substantial influence on the behaviour of a system of nuclear spins. In contrast, in a classical solution-state NMR experiment, Brownian motion leads to an averaging of anisotropic interactions. In such cases, these interactions can be neglected on the time-scale of the NMR experiment.

Chemists have found a way to shorten the time needed to obtain molecular structure imaging information from solid-state NMR. They've also found a way to use smaller imaging samples to obtain spectral imaging data and reduce experiment costs.[...]