In solid-state NMR, recoupling sequences are often used as the mixing elements of two-dimensional pulse sequences. We show that in many cases, the commutation properties of the mixing Hamiltonian leads to selectivity in the allowed coherence transfer processes. This property may lead to enhanced resolution in the cross-peaks of two-dimensional solid-state NMR spectra. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.