HIGH-RESOLUTION NMR IN INHOMOGENEOUS FIELDS

A new NMR technique is presented that yields high-resolution, 1-D NMR spectra of solutes in inhomogeneous magnetic fields. The method exploi ts the nuclear Overhauser effect which couples the longitudinal relaxa tion of solvent and solute nuclear spins. Effectively, the solvent spi ns serve as reporters or local gaussmeters for the solute spins. Both 2-D and 1-D versions of this new experiment are reported. Potential ap plications of the method include in vivo NMR spectroscopy, where the f ield homogeneity is always degraded by the magnetic susceptibilities o f the various tissues. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.