Single-scan multidimensional NMR

Multidimensional spectroscopy plays a number of essential roles in contemporary magnetic resonance. It brings a resolution enhancement without which numerous NMR applications in organic and inorganic chemistry would be unattainable, it serves as a basic tool in the assignment and structural elucidation of complex biological structures, and it is an integral part of the image formation protocol in MRI. The present review describes a recent scheme which we have developed, enabling the acquisition of complete 2D NMR data sets within a single continuous acquisition. Provided that an analyte's signal is sufficiently strong, the acquisition time of multidimensional NMR experiments can thus be shortened by several orders of magnitude. The new methodology is compatible with existing multidimensional pulse sequences (COSY, TOCSY, HSQC, MRI) and can be implemented using conventional hardware. The spatial encoding of the NMR interactions - which is the new principle underlying this ultrafast NMR protocol - is discussed, and the protocol's performance is exemplified with a variety of homonuclear and heteronuclear 2D NMR and MRI acquisitions.