Enhancements of experiment design, sensitivity, and information content in multidimensional NMR

Various aspects of enhancements in multidimensional biomolecular NMR are presented in this thesis. In Chapter 1, the theoretical background of multidimensional NMR is presented. Special attention is given to the operator description of NMR experiments and phase cycling. In Chapter 2, a non-classical vector model based on the product operator formalism is described. This new vector model can be used to visualize multidimensional NMR experiments of arbitrary complexity with insights into frequency-labeling in the indirect dimension, coherence transfer and selection, and phase-cycling. The application of this model to COSY, INADEQUATE, and HNCA is also demonstrated. In Chapter 3, a new version of the sensitivity enhanced HQSC experiment is described. The new experiment provides a reduction of the original mandated phase cycling and storage by one half and achieves pure absorption lineshape without using any of the traditional quadrature detection methods. In addition, the backbone and side-chain amide protons are easily separated in the new experiment. In Chapter 4, an exact method for 3D NOE-NOE spectrum simulation that gives more accurate peak intensities is described and compared to other approximate methods. In Chapter 5, a new hybrid-hybrid deconvolution method for 3D NOE-NOE data analysis is proposed and applied to a DNA three-way junction molecule. It is shown that this method provides a promising tool to solve three-dimensional structures of large biomolecules