JOURNAL OF MAGNETIC RESONANCE,

ARTICLE NO.

Series A 120, 116120 (1996)

0106

Two New Window Functions for Long Acquisition Times

CARLOS R. PACHECO

AND

DANIEL D. TRAFICANTE *

Department of Chemistry, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, Rhode Island 02881

Received December 18, 1995

In 1987 (1), we described two new window functions

(TRAFtransform of reversed-added FIDs) that are capable of improving the S/N and/or the resolution in a spectrum
without sacrificing the other. Both functions perform extremely well, but only if the acquisition time of the FID is
approximately 3T *
2 or less. For longer acquisition times,
relatively little signal remains in the presence of constant
noise. In such cases, these functions weight the noise too
heavily and will not produce the desired results. Hence, we
have modified the original functions so that they will perform
well for acquisition times longer than 3T *
2 .
Figure 1 shows an FID collected for 11T *
2 , and the shape
of the original TRAF function reported for sensitivity enhancement (dotted line). Note that this function too strongly
emphasizes the noisy, middle portion of the FID. The new
function for sensitivity enhancement (TRAFS) is also shown
in this figure (solid line). Its point of emphasis is shifted to
the left so that its peak is located at the optimum position
(1), and then the function smoothly decreases to near zero
at 3T *
2 . Thereafter, the FID is multiplied by a decreasing
exponential. Similarly, the original TRAF function reported
for resolution enhancement (not shown here) also positions
the peak in the noisy portion of the FID. The new resolutionenhancement function (TRAFR) also shifts the peak and
then multiplies by a decreasing exponential.
LW (linewidth) is the single parameter that shifts both
window functions (TRAFS and TRAFR) and sets the time
constant (T 2w ) for the decreasing exponential. It is analogous
to LB (line broadening) and is defined by
LW ( pT 2w ) 01 .

[1]

If two exponential functions are further defined by

E(t) exp( 0tpLW)

[2]

1 (t) exp[(t 0 AT) pLW],

[3]

where AT is the acquisition time, then TRAFR and TRAFS

are given respectively by
* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
1064-1858/96 $18.00
Copyright q 1996 by Academic Press, Inc.
All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.

6j0d$$0870

04-18-96 07:49:00

TRAFR
[E(t)] 2
[E(t)] 3 / [ 1 (t)] 3

E(t)

1
seconds
LW

1
t AT seconds
LW
[4]

TRAFS

[E(t)] 2[E(t) / 1 (t)]

[E(t)] 3 / [ 1 (t)] 3
E(t)

for

for 0 t

1
seconds
LW

1
t AT seconds.
LW
[5]

These window functions were applied to proton FIDs obtained from a solution of dl-menthol in CDCl3 , utilizing a
Bruker AM-300. The acquisition times for the FIDs were 3,
5, 7.5, and 11T *
2 . After application of the functions, zero
filling was used prior to Fourier transformation. The 14-line
multiplet in the region 2.05 to 2.20 ppm of the spectrum
was used to assess the effectiveness of the functions. This
multiplet was chosen because it contains small peaks in the
presence of large ones, and because the lines are spaced
closely enough to permit a visual observation of the changes
in resolution. For quantitative evaluation of the improvements in S/N and in resolution, the resulting multiplet was
deconvolved in the frequency domain, and the heights and
linewidths were measured from the tallest deconvolved line.
Figures 2a and 2b respectively show the S/N and resolution obtained from a menthol FID, with AT 11T *
2 , and
processed with three different window functions for sensitivity enhancement: (1) the standard exponential multiplication
(EM), (2) the original TRAF function, and (3) the new
TRAFS function. The ordinate axes compare the resulting
S/N and linewidths to those obtained from the raw, unprocessed FID. The abscissa axes represent the LB parameter
for EM, and the LW parameter for the TRAF and TRAFS
functions.
To employ EM properly, the matched filter (2) should

116

magal

for

for 0 t

AP: Mag Res