Spatially encoded pure-shift diffusion-ordered NMR spectroscopy yielded by chirp excitation

Spatially-encoded diffusion-ordered NMR spectroscopy (SPEN-DOSY) has emerged as a new time-efficient tool for the analysis of mixtures of small molecules in solution. Time efficiency is achieved using the concept of spatial parallelization of the effective gradient area, instead of the sequential incrementation used in conventional diffusion experiments. The data acquired with such sequences are then usually processed to extract diffusion coefficients, but cases when peak overlap in the 1H spectrum are difficult to address. Such limitation in conventional diffusion experiments is addressed via using the Pure Shift Yielded by CHirp Excitation (PSYCHE)-iDOSY sequence. Here we have adapted the PSYCHE-iDOSY sequence by using echo planar spectroscopic imaging (EPSI) to acquire SPEN-DOSY data. The pure shift mode of PSYCHE separates the overlapped components and a modified Stejskal-Tanner equation is used to extract the corresponding diffusion coefficient. The primary results obtained with the above-mentioned mixtures seem to open the possibility of separating complex mixtures in less time than PSYCHE-iDOSY.