Nuclear magnetic resonance decoupling (NMR decoupling for short) is a special method used in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy where a sample to be analyzed is irradiated at a certain frequency or frequency range to eliminate fully or partially the effect of coupling between certain nuclei. NMR coupling refers to the effect of nuclei on each other in atoms within a couple of bonds distance of each other in molecules. This effect causes NMR signals in a spectrum to be split into multiple peaks. Decoupling fully or partially eliminates splitting of the signal between the nuclei irradiated and other nuclei such as the nuclei being analyzed in a certain spectrum. NMR spectroscopy and sometimes decoupling can help determine structures of chemical compounds.
NMR spectroscopy of a sample produces an NMR spectrum, which is essentially a graph of signal intensity on the vertical axis vs. chemical shift for a certain isotope on the horizontal axis. The signal intensity is dependent on the number of exactly equivalent nuclei in the sample at that chemical shift. NMR spectra are taken to analyze one isotope of nuclei at a time. Only certain types of isotopes of certain elements show up in NMR spectra. Only these isotopes cause NMR coupling. Nuclei of atoms having the same equivalent positions within a molecule also do not couple with each other. 1H (proton) NMR spectroscopy and 13C NMR spectroscopy analyze 1H and 13C nuclei, respectively, and are the most common types (most common analyte isotopes which show signals) of NMR spectroscopy.
Homonuclear decoupling is when the nuclei being radio frequency (rf) irradiated are the same isotope as the nuclei being observed (analyzed) in the spectrum.
Heteronuclear decoupling is when the nuclei being rf irradiated are of a different isotope than the nuclei being observed in the spectrum.
For a given isotope, the entire range for all nuclei of that isotope can be irradiated in broad band decoupling,
or only a select range for certain nuclei of that isotope can be irradiated.
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