The principles and parameters to consider when choosing an NMR probe for analysis of a volume- or mass-limited sample are identified and discussed. In particular, a capillary-based microflow probe is described which has a mass sensitivity comparable to cryoprobes (observe volume approximately 40 microL), but with several distinct advantages. The microflow probe has a flowcell volume of 5 microL and an observe volume of 1.5 microL and is equipped with proton and carbon observe channels, deuterium lock, and z-gradient capability. The entire flow path is fused silica; inlet and outlet capillary inner diameters are 50 microm to minimize sample dispersion, making it well-suited to volume-limited samples. An injected sample of 1 nmol of sucrose (0.34 microg in 3 microL, 0.33 mM; MW = 342 g/mol) yields a 1D proton spectrum in 10 min on a spectrometer of 500 MHz or higher. In another example, 15 microg of sucrose (in 3 microL; 15 mM, 45 nmol) is injected and parked in the probe to yield a heteronuclear multiple-quantum coherence (HMQC) spectrum in less than 15 h. The natural product muristerone A (75 microg in 3 microL, 50 mM, 150 nmol; MW = 497 g/mol) was delivered to the flow cell, and a gradient correlation spectroscopy spectrum was acquired in 7 min, a gradient HMQC in 4 h, and a gradient heteronuclear multiple-bond correlation in 11 h. Four basic modes of sample injection into the probe vary in degree of user intervention, speed, solvent consumption, and sample delivery efficiency. Manual, manual-assisted (employing a micropump), automated (using an autosampler), and capillary HPLC modes of operation are described.

A specially designed microcoil probe for use in biomolecular NMR spectroscopy is presented. The microcoil probe shows a mass-based sensitivity increase of a minimal factor of 7.5, allowing for the first time routine biomolecular NMR spectroscopy with microgram amounts of proteins. In addition, the exceptional radio frequency capabilities of this probe allowed us to record an aliphatic-aromatic HCCH-TOCSY spectrum for the first time. Using this spectrum, the side chains of aliphatic and aromatic amino acids can be completely assigned using only a single experiment. Using the conserved hypothetical protein TM0979 from Thermotoga maritima, we demonstrate the capabilities of this microcoil NMR probe to completely pursue the sequence specific backbone assignment with less than 500 µg of 13 C, 15 N labeled protein.

We describe here experiments evaluating the performance of solenoidal radio frequency probes having submillimeter dimensions (microcoils) as detectors for liquid nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) in very low-homogeneity (100 ppm/cm) magnetic fields. Performance is based on the measured H2O linewidth. A series of solenoidal microcoils having sample volumes 8, 53, and 593 nl were filled with distilled H2O and evaluated for smallest obtainable unshimmed NMR spectral linewidths in a vertical bore superconducting magnet, stabilized at 5.9 T (1H frequency=250 MHz). The smallest microcoil (472 μm diameter) gave a smallest H2O linewidth of 525 Hz, 25 times smaller than that from a standard 5.7 mm probe. Linewidth increased approximately as the square root of sample volume. For comparison, shimmed H2O linewidths using the same microcoils in a high-homogeneity (0.1 ppm/cm) NMR magnet were also measured. Shimmed linewidths in the high-homogeneity magnet were two orders of magnitude smaller and exhibited a similar dependence on volume. The results demonstrate that by using microcoils the volume over which the polarizing magnetic field must meet a specified homogeneity can be significantly reduced, which would be advantageous for smaller, less expensive NMR systems.

In contrast to conventional NMR techniques that use magnetic field gradients (MFG's) to detect the diffusion of moving atoms, we have developed a highly sensitive approach for detecting electric field gradient (EFG) Iluctuations seen by stationary atoms. These EFG Iluctuations were observed in the quadrupole perturbed NMR behavior of a stationary nucleus ( 'Nb) in the incommensurate insulator barium sodium niobate and are attributed to motion of the modulation wave. We observed effective diffusion constants of order 10 " cm2/s, which are 4 orders of magnitude smaller than those currently detectable with MFG NMR.