Shortening NMR diffusion experimental times

NMR diffusion measurements have become the method of choice for measuring diffusing due to their wide applicability, speed of measurement, enormous range of accessible diffusion coefficients (from gas ~10-6 m2s-1 to large polymers ~10-15 m2s-1), and the ability to measure diffusion over a specified timescale, Δ, which greatly adds to the power of NMR diffusion measurements as it allows the ability to probe porous media [1,2]. The weakness of NMR diffusion measurements lies in their inherent insensitivity. Consequently, many experiments are in theory possible but in practice would simply consume too much spectrometer time and therefore become impractical. Even in cases where the total measurement time is not a limitation, making the measurement faster expands the horizons of diffusion measurements to study reaction kinetics [3,4], as well as simply increasing throughput.