Most modern NMR methods, including 2D and 3D NMR, DOSY and difference
spectroscopy, are critically dependent on the stability and reproducibility
of the signals that NMR spectrometers produce. In many experiments,
for example NOE difference spectroscopy and HMBC, the sensitivity
of the technique is generally limited not by the intrinsic signal-to-noise
ratio of the instrument, but by its stability. The limiting factor
is the ability to distinguish between the signals of interest
and a background of unwanted signals, rather than a background
of random noise. Our earlier work successfully identified two
of the main sources of instability in modern spectrometers (low-level
mains frequency modulation of magnetic field and radiofrequency,
and the temperature sensitivity of the phases of radiofrequency
signals in the spectrometer console), and we are now investigating
methods for suppressing and/or compensating these effects.
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Most recent revision 15th April 2007