Refocusing revisited: an optimized, gradient-enhanced refocused HSQC and its applications in 2D and 3D NMR and in deuterium exchange experiments.

2D 15N-1H correlation spectra are ideal for measuring backbone amide populations to determine amide exchange protection factors in studies of protein folding or other structural features. Most protein NMR spectroscopists use HSQC, which has been shown to be generally superior to HMQC in both resolution and sensitivity. The refocused HSQC experiment is intrinsically less sensitive than the regular HSQC, due to T2 relaxation during the refocusing delays. However, we show here that, when high 15N resolution is needed, an optimized refocused HSQC sequence that utilizes a semi-constant time evolution period and pulsed field gradients has better signal-to-noise ratio and resolution, and integrates more accurately, than a similar HSQC. The differences are demonstrated on a 20 kDa protein. The technique can also be applied to 3D NOESY experiments to eliminate strong NH2 geminal peaks and their truncation artefacts at a modest cost in sensitivity.