NMR of a Phospholipid: Modules for Advanced Laboratory Courses

Abstract

A laboratory project is described that builds upon the NMR experience undergraduates receive in organic chemistry with a battery of NMR experiments that investigate egg phosphatidylcholine (egg PC). This material, often labeled in health food stores as lecithin, is a major constituent of mammalian cell membranes. The NMR experiments may be used to make resonance assignments, to study molecular organization in model membranes, to test the effects of instrumental parameters, and to investigate the physics of nuclear spin systems. A suite of modular NMR exercises is described, so that the instructor may tailor the laboratory sessions to biochemistry, instrumental analysis, or physical chemistry. The experiments include solution-state one-dimensional (1D) 1H, 13C, and 31P experiments; two-dimensional (2D) TOtal Correlated SpectroscopY (TOCSY); and the spectral editing technique of Distortionless Enhancement by Polarization Transfer (DEPT). To demonstrate the differences between solution and solid-state NMR spectroscopy and instrumentation, a second set of experiments generates 1H, 13C, and 31P spectra of egg PC dispersed in aqueous solution, under both static and magic-angle spinning conditions.