Quantification of two-dimensional NOE spectra via a combined linear and nonlinear least-squares fit

Determining the volumes of peaks in 2D NMR spectra can be prohibitively difficult in cases of overlapping, broad lines. Deconvolution and parameter estimation can be attempted on either the time-domain or the frequency-domain data. We present a method of estimating spectral parameters from frequency-domain data, using a combination of Lorentzian and Gaussian lineshapes for reference lines. This approach combines a previously published method of projecting the data on a linear space spanned by reference lines with a nonlinear least-squares fitting algorithm. Comparison of this method with other published methods of frequency-domain deconvolution shows that it is both more precise and more accurate when estimating 2D volumes.