Two-dimensional Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy - Heteronuclear Through-bond Correlation Methods

Heteronuclear Through-bond Correlation Methods

Heteronuclear correlation spectroscopy gives signals based upon coupling between nuclei between two different types. Often the two nuclei are protons and another nucleus (called a "heteronucleus"). For historical reasons, experiments which record the proton rather than the heteronucleus spectrum during the detection period are called "inverse" experiments. This is because the low natural abundance of most heteronuclei would result in the proton spectrum being overwhelmed with signals from molecules with no active heteronuclei, making it useless for observing the desired, coupled signals. With the advent of techniques for suppressing these undesired signals, inverse correlation experiments such as HSQC, HMQC, and HMBC are actually much more common today. "Normal" heteronuclear correlation spectroscopy, in which the hetronucleus spectrum is recorded, is known as HETCOR.