Incomplete Data Sets in the Model Free Analysis of Experimental Residual Dipolar Couplings in Small Organic Compounds

Residual dipolar couplings (RDCs) contain information on the relative arrangement and dynamics of internuclear spin vectors in chemical compounds. The recently introduced software TITANIA implements the MFA and extracts structure and dynamics parameters directly from experimental RDCs to facilitate de novo structure refinement for small organic compounds. Herein, we focus on the challenges faced with experimentally inaccessible data often encountered for small organic compounds leading to voids in the RDC matrix and the concomitant effects on the structure refinement. It is shown that RDC data sets obtained experimentally from currently available alignment media and measurement methods are of sufficient quality to allow relative configuration determination even when the relative configuration of the analyte is completely unknown.