T2 relaxation measurement with solvent suppression and implications to solvent suppression in general

A number of suppression pulse sequences including Excitation Sculpting and WATERGATE were incorporated into the standard Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill (CPMG) program for T(2) measurement and experimentally evaluated. The chosen suppression schemes were of varying complexity encompassing pulse program elements, such as presaturation, gradients, and selective pulses, which are typically utilized for solvent suppression. The quality of the spectral data and the accuracy of T(2) measurements of the investigated suppression schemes were evaluated using three aqueous samples with increasing proton content in the water solvent, i.e. by volume 100% D(2)O, 80/20% D(2)O/H(2)O, and 20/80% D(2)O/H(2)O. For signals removed from the water signal, the T(2) values were generally very consistent between all pulse sequences tested. T(2) measurements can be unreliable for signals too close to the water signal such that they are significantly suppressed as well. Their intensity may actually grow initially through cross relaxation that transfers magnetization back to the solute signal. In turn, this relaxation phenomenon can be exploited to improve the spectral quality of conventional solvent suppression schemes. In favorable cases, even signals that are completely masked by the water signal can be recovered by adding a carefully chosen number of spin echoes with optimized evolution time to conventional water suppression pulse programs, such as Excitation Sculpting or WATERGATE.