HSQC-1,1-ADEQUATE and HSQC-1,n-ADEQUATE: enhanced methods for establishing adjacent and long-range 13C-13C...

1H-13C GHSQC and GHMBC spectra are irrefutably among the most valuable 2D NMR experiments for the establishment of unknown chemical structures. However, the indeterminate nature of the length of the long-range coupling(s) observed via the (n)J(CH)-optimized delay of the GHMBC experiment can complicate the interpretation of the data when dealing with novel chemical structures. A priori there is no way to differentiate 2J(CH) from (n)J(CH) correlations, where n ≥ 3. Access to high-field spectrometers with cryogenic NMR probes brings 1,1- and 1,n-ADEQUATE experiments into range for modest samples. Subjecting ADEQUATE spectra to covariance processing with high sensitivity experiments such as multiplicity-edited GHSQC affords a diagonally symmetric 13C-13C correlation spectrum in which correlation data are observed with the apparent sensitivity of the GHSQC spectrum. HSQC-1,1-ADEQUATE covariance spectra derived by co-processing of GHSQC and 1,1-ADEQUATE spectra allow the carbon skeleton of molecules to be conveniently traced. HSQC-1,n-ADEQUATE spectra provide enhanced access to correlations equivalent to 4J(CH) correlations in a GHMBC spectrum. When these data are used to supplement GHMBC data, a powerfully synergistic set of heteronuclear correlations are available. The methods discussed are illustrated using retrorsine (1) as a model compound.