Patent ID: 6838878

Claim:
A solid state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) method for investigating a sample material that contains protons H and also spin-1/2 hetero nuclei X, the method comprising the steps of: a) increasing an equilibrium polarization of X; b) suppressing proton magnetization; c) transferring polarization from X to H using a radio frequency (RF) pulse sequence which effects transfer between the nuclei X and spatially proximate protons H utilizing a dipole coupling constant D XH , wherein polarization transfer depends only weakly on couplings of nuclei X to spatially distant protons and only weakly on couplings among the protons themselves; d) recording proton signals under a line narrowing condition, wherein the sample material is rotated at a magic angle (MAS=magic angle spinning); e) repeating steps a) through d) several times while varying an experimental parameter which is clearly physically associated with a polarization transfer process; and f) determining a dipole coupling constant D XH by analyzing variations in intensity of proton signals recorded in step d), wherein a ratio between a number of H nuclei to a number of X nuclei is larger than or equal to 10:1.