Articles | Volume 7, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/mr-7-89-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/mr-7-89-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
24 Jun 2026
Research article |
| 24 Jun 2026
| 24 Jun 2026
Dual bilinear rotations
Yannik T. Woordes
Institute of Organic Chemistry and Institute for Biological Interfaces 4 – Magnetic Resonance, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany
Institute of Organic Chemistry and Institute for Biological Interfaces 4 – Magnetic Resonance, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany
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Bilinear rotations like BIRD, TANGO, BANGO, and BIG-BIRD are essential building blocks in modern nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy that allow the rotation of an isolated spin without couplings (i.e., bilinear interactions) in one way, while rotating spins with a matched coupling in another way. Two ways for constructing particularly robust bilinear rotations (compensated for couplings, offsets, and B1 inhomogeneities, or COB/COB3) are provided and demonstrated in both theory and experiment.
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Bilinear rotations like BIRD, TANGO, BANGO, and BIG-BIRD are essential building blocks in modern nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy that allow the rotation of an isolated spin without couplings (i.e., bilinear interactions) in one way, while rotating spins with a matched coupling in another way. Two ways for constructing particularly robust bilinear rotations (compensated for couplings, offsets, and B1 inhomogeneities, or COB/COB3) are provided and demonstrated in both theory and experiment.
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The HSQC experiment developed by Bodenhausen and Ruben is a cornerstone for modern NMR. When used in the field of metabolomics, the common practice of decoupling in the proton dimension limits the acquisition time and hence the resolution. Here, we present a virtual decoupling method to maintain both spectral simplicity and resolution, and demonstrate how it increases information content with the zebra mussel metabolome as an example.
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Short summary
Dual bilinear rotations are introduced, which lead to well-defined rotations for both heteronuclear spins I and S that depend on the presence or absence of a (large) coupling between them. These are therefore an extension of conventional bilinear rotations, which cause such a spin-system-dependent rotation only for the spin I. A general derivation of the approach is given, and a quadruple-J-resolved type experiment is introduced for demonstration.
Dual bilinear rotations are introduced, which lead to well-defined rotations for both...
