RADIATION DAMPING - SURYANS LINE BROADENING REVISITED IN HIGH-RESOLUTION SOLUTION NMR

Radiation damping is a combined manifestation of the nuclear spins and the resonant circuit. Radiation damping effects are becoming increasi ngly important in the high field NMR spectra of biological macromolecu les when dissolved in aqueous solutions. This phenomenon was first dis covered by Suryan in 1949 and a complete mathematical treatment was pr ovided by Bloembergen and Pound in 1954. In this review, a historical perspective of Suryan's line broadening, commonly known as radiation d amping is presented and methods that can suppress or utilize it advant ageously are discussed with an emphasis of this phenomenon in the curr ent state of high resolution solution NMR spectroscopy.