The method of single quantum 13C editing is analyzed and implemented with water suppressed J-refocused coherence transfer spectroscopy. Analysis of the 13C inversion pulse demonstrates that it is optimally placed into the second echo of the J-refocused sequence. We have used this method to acquire 13C-edited spectra of glutamate from phantoms and in vivo. The turnover of 13C4-labeled glutamate in human brain in vivo was observed in parasagittal gray matter using a volume head coil at 4.1 T with a time resolution of 5.3 min.