Proton decoupled ¹³C NMR imaging

Proton decoupled ¹³C images were obtained at 2.1 Tesla. ¹³C{¹H} images showed an increase in sensitivity over nondecoupled ¹³C images because of the nuclear Overhauser effect and elimination of multiple lines from scalar ¹³C¹H spin-spin couplings. The improvement in S N for ¹³C{¹H} images was smaller than expected because of a significant decrease in decoupling efficiency when ¹³C spin echoes were acquired in a readout gradient. Images of ¹³C compounds that had a wide range of chemical shifts showed separated and/or overlapping images, which is consistent with chemical shift imaging artifacts seen in ¹H images. This work examines the technical constraints of acquiring and the difficulties of interpreting ¹³C{¹H} images.