Dynamics of $I = {3 \over 2}$ nuclei in isotropic slow motion, anisotropic and partially ordered phases

Abstract

Abstract NMR of quadrupolar nuclei, and, in particular 23 Na in soft tissues has attracted renewed interest due to the importance that sodium plays in physiology. The quadrupolar coupling and relaxation dynamics, including the appearance of the dynamic frequency shift are treated in this article. The equations governing irreducible spherical tensor analysis are derived and discussed. Experiments are shown to demonstrate how parameters such as the correlation time, the instantaneous and the residual quadrupolar couplings can be extracted from the data. Such experiments and procedures are particularly useful in the analysis of 23 Na NMR data from tissues or cell suspensions. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Concepts Magn Reson Part A 36A: 362–387, 2010