Comparative Study of REDOR and CPPI Derived Order Parameters by ¹H-Detected MAS NMR and MD Simulations

The measurement of dipolar couplings among directly bonded nuclei yields direct information on the amplitude of dynamic processes in the solid-state. For a reliable motional analysis using, e.g., the model-free approach, a correct quantification of the absolute values of these order parameters is absolutely essential. In the absence of a reference value for the rigid limit, too low dipolar coupling values might be misinterpreted as motion. Therefore, a detailed understanding of the effects that influence the quantification of the experimental order parameters is necessary. We compare here REDOR and CPPI derived order parameters assessed in ¹H-detected experiments, and discuss the influence of remote protons and rf inhomogeneity on the extracted dipolar coupling constant for MAS rotation frequencies in the range 20-100 kHz. Experimental results are furthermore compared with the order parameter obtained from a molecular dynamics simulation. We find that fast magic-Angle spinning up to 100 kHz can yield artifact-free REDOR based ¹H,¹⁵N order parameters for perdeuterated and 100% amide back-exchanged proteins, and potentially even in uniformly protonated samples. We believe that awareness of systematic errors introduced by the measurement and in the analysis of order parameters will yield a better understanding of the dynamic properties of a protein derived from solid-state NMR observables.