Processing strategies to obtain clean interleaved ultrafast 2D NMR spectra

Ultrafast (UF) 2D NMR enables the acquisition of 2D spectra in a single-scan. In spite of its promising potential, the accessible spectral width is highly limited by the maximum gradient amplitude, which limits the general applicability of the method. A number of solutions have been recently described to deal with this limitation, among which stands the possibility to record several interleaved scans. However, this alternative acquisition scheme leads to numerous ghost peaks characteristic of interleaved acquisitions. These artefacts highly affect the readability of 2D spectra for structural elucidation, as well as their quantitative performance. Here, we propose several pre-FT or post-FT processing corrections to clean artefacts from interleaved ultrafast NMR spectra. Their performances are compared, and their potentialities are illustrated in a small organic molecule context. Post-FT processing corrections such as ArSub (Artefact Subtraction) or symmetrisation appear to be the most efficient ones in terms of artefact removal. While not purely single-scan, these strategies open new perspectives towards the routine use of UF 2D NMR for structural or quantitative analysis.