The sensitivity of C-13 NMR imaging can be considerably favored by detectin
g the H-1 nuclei bound to C-13 nuclei via scalar J-interaction (X-filter).
However, the J-editing approaches have difficulty in discriminating between
compounds with similar J-constant as, for example, different glucose metab
olites. In such cases, it is almost impossible to get J-edited images of a
single-compound distribution, since the various molecules are distinguishab
le only via their chemical shift. In a recent application of J-editing to h
igh-resolution spectroscopy, it has been shown that a more efficient chemic
al selectivity could be obtained by utilizing the larger chemical shift ran
ge of C-13. This has been made by introducing frequency-selective C-13 puls
es that allow a great capability of indirect chemical separation. Here a do
uble-resonance imaging approach is proposed, based on both J-editing and C-
13 chemical shift editing, which achieves a powerful chemical selectivity a
nd is able to produce full maps of specific chemical compounds. Results are
presented on a multicompartments sample containing solutions of glucose an
d lactic and glutamic acid in water. (C) 2001 Academic Press.