Frequency-swept pulse sequences for 19F heteronuclear spin decoupling in solid-state NMR

Heteronuclear spin decoupling pulse sequences in solid-state NMR have mostly been designed and applied for irradiating 1H as the abundant nucleus. Here, a systematic comparison of different methods for decoupling 19F in rigid organic solids is presented, with a special emphasis on the recently introduced frequency-swept sequences. An extensive series of NMR experiments at different MAS frequencies was conducted on fluorinated model compounds, in combination with large sets of numerical simulations. From both experiments and simulations it can be concluded that the frequency-swept sequences SWf-TPPM and SWf-SPINAL deliver better and more robust spin decoupling than the original sequences SPINAL and TPPM. Whereas the existence of a large chemical shift anisotropy and isotropic shift dispersion for 19F does compromise the decoupling efficiency, the relative performance hierarchy of the sequences remains unaffected. Therefore, in the context of rigid organic solids under moderate MAS frequencies, the performance trends observed for 19F decoupling are very similar to those observed for 1H decoupling.