NMR experiments for the sign determination of homonuclear scalar and residual dipolar couplings.

A modified version of the JHH-TOCSY experiment, 'signed COSY', is presented that allows the determination of the sign of residual dipolar 1H-1H coupling constants with respect to the sign of one-bond 1H-X coupling constants in linear three-spin systems X-1H-1H, where X = 13C or 15N. In contrast to the original JHH-TOCSY experiments, the signs of J(HH) couplings may be determined for CH2-CH2 moieties and for uniformly 13C/15N-labelled samples. In addition, sensitivity is enhanced, diagonal peaks are suppressed and cross peaks are observed only between directly coupled protons, as in a COSY spectrum.