From Angstroms to Nanometers: Measuring Interatomic Distances by Solid-State NMR

• Published in: Chemical reviews Vol. 122; no. 10; pp. 9848 - 9879
• Main Authors: Shcherbakov, Alexander A., Medeiros-Silva, João, Tran, Nhi, Gelenter, Martin D., Hong, Mei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 25-05-2022
• Subjects: Distance measurement; Experiments; Gyromagnetic ratio; Macromolecules; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; Molecular structure; NMR spectroscopy; Proteins - chemistry; Solid state
• ISSN: 0009-2665; 1520-6890
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.1c00662

Internuclear distances represent one of the main structural constraints in molecular structure determination using solid-state NMR spectroscopy, complementing chemical shifts and orientational restraints. Although a large number of magic-angle-spinning (MAS) NMR techniques have been available for distance measurements, traditional 13C and 15N NMR experiments are inherently limited to distances of a few angstroms due to the low gyromagnetic ratios of these nuclei. Recent development of fast MAS triple-resonance 19F and 1H NMR probes has stimulated the design of MAS NMR experiments that measure distances in the 1–2 nm range with high sensitivity. This review describes the principles and applications of these multiplexed multidimensional correlation distance NMR experiments, with an emphasis on 19F- and 1H-based distance experiments. Representative applications of these long-distance NMR methods to biological macromolecules as well as small molecules are reviewed.