In vitro metabolism of [2-13C]-ethanol by 1H NMR spectroscopy using 13C decoupling with the reverse dept polarization-transfer pulse sequence.

The metabolism of [2-13C]-ethanol by alcohol dehydrogenase purified from Drosophila melanogaster has been observed by proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR). The reverse-DEPT pulse sequence, with composite pulse 13C decoupling to simplify and increase the signal-to-noise of spectra, has been used to eliminate the strong water signal while still observing the proton signals of metabolites of interest. Using these techniques the rates of synthesis of acetaldehyde, its diol and acetate from [2-13C] ethanol by alcohol dehydrogenase were measured simultaneously.