An approach toward high-resolution NMR spectroscopy on samples located outside the physical confines of a magnet (ex situ NMR), has recently been described [C.A. Meriles, D. Sakellariou, H. Heise, A.J. Moule, A. Pines, Science 293 (2001) 82]. Nutation echoes are generated by a train of z-rotation pulses in the presence of spatially matched static and rf field gradients. These pulses were based on a combination of 'perfect' pi/2 constant rotation composite pulses and 'imperfect' ordinary pulses of variable length. Here we introduce a new class of 'self-compensated' z-rotation composite pulses based only on variable rotation inversion pulses that lead to an rf dependent phase shift. Experiments and simulations show that these new pulses perform well at high B-0 gradients and require less rf power than previous schemes. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.