Clean TOCSY transfer through residual dipolar couplings.

The transfer efficiency of cross-relaxation compensated (Clean) TOCSY sequences is analyzed for applications to residual dipolar couplings. Surprisingly most conventional Clean TOCSY sequences are very inefficient for dipolar transfer. It is shown theoretically, that this is a general property of all phase-alternating mixing sequences, i.e., for such sequences the suppression of cross-relaxation excludes dipolar transfer in the spin-diffusion limit. A new family of clean dipolar TOCSY sequences is derived which provides excellent transfer efficiencies for a broad range of offset frequencies.