Refocusing CSA during magic angle spinning rotating-frame relaxation experiments

Abstract

We examine coherent evolution of spin-locked magnetization during magic-angle spinning (MAS), in the context of relaxation experiments designed to probe chemical exchange (rotating-frame relaxation (R1ρ)). Coherent evolution is expected in MAS based rotating-frame relaxation decay experiments if matching conditions are met (such as, ω1 = nωr) and if the chemical shielding anisotropy (CSA) is substantial. We show here using numerical simulations and experiments that even when such matching requirements are avoided (e.g., ω1 < 0.5ωr, ∼1.5ωr, >2.5ωr), coherent evolution of spin-locked magnetization with large CSA is still considerable. The coherent evolution has important consequences on the analysis of relaxation decay and the ability to extract accurate information of interest about dynamics. We present a pulse sequence that employs rotary echoes and refocuses CSA contributions, allowing for more sensitive measurement of rotating-frame relaxation with less interference from coherent evolution. In practice, the proposed pulse sequence, REfocused CSA Rotating-frame Relaxation (RECRR) is robust to carrier frequency offset, B1-field inhomogeneity, and slight miscalibrations of the refocusing pulses.