One-neutron knockout reactions in a 9 Be target have been investigated at relativistic energies, near 700 MeV/u, for a set of sd-shell, neutron-rich nuclei. The experiment was performed in the FRS spectrometer, at GSI. gamma-ray measurements were carried out by means of the MINIBALL gamma-ray spectrometer and allowed the determination of partial cross-sections and branching ratios corresponding to the final states of the emerging knockout fragments. Experimental results are presented for C-17, N-19, O-21 and F-25 projectiles. The role of excited states of the N - 1 fragments in the composition of the ground state of these neutron-rich projectiles is outlined in this work.