The influence of the molecular system on the performance of heteronuclear decoupling in solid-state NMR

The intensity of the carbon signal in a CPMAS experiment has been measured for two CH and three CH2 moieties in four test molecules under different phase-modulated proton decoupling conditions and as a function of the spinning rate. The proton decoupling schemes investigated were the golden standard TPPM and three of the GTn family. Aim of this analysis was to better describe experimentally the impact and limitations of phase-modulated decoupling. Sizeable differences in the response to decoupling were observed in otherwise chemically identical molecular fragments, such as the CHCH2 found in tyrosine, phenyl-succinic acid or 9-Anthrylmethyl-malonate, probably due to differences in spin-diffusion rates. In keeping with known facts, the efficiency of the decoupling was observed to decrease with the MAS rate, but with somewhat different trends for the tested systems. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.