Broadband excitation and indirect detection of nitrogen-14 in rotating solids using Delays Alternating with Nutation (DANTE).

A train of short rotor-synchronized pulses in the manner of Delays Alternating with Nutations for Tailored Excitation (DANTE) applied to nitrogen-14 nuclei (I=1) in samples spinning at the magic angle at high frequencies (typically νrot=62.5 kHz so that τrot=16 μs) allows one to achieve uniform excitation of a great number of spinning sidebands that arise from large first-order quadrupole interactions, as occur for aromatic nitrogen-14 nuclei in histidine. With routine rf amplitudes ω1(14N)/(2π)=60 kHz and very short pulses of a typical duration 0.5<τp<2 μs, efficient excitation can be achieved with 13 rotor-synchronized pulses in 13 τrot=208 μs. Alternatively, with 'overtone' DANTE sequences using 2, 4, or 8 pulses per rotor period one can achieve efficient broadband excitation in fewer rotor periods, typically 2-4 τrot. These principles can be combined with the indirect detection of 14N nuclei via spy nuclei with S=½ such as 1H or 13C in the manner of Dipolar Heteronuclear Multiple-Quantum Correlation (D-HMQC).