Overhauser Dynamic Nuclear Polarization with Selectively Deuterated BDPA Radicals

Cryogenic and Dissolution DNP NMR on γ-Irradiated Organic Molecules

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) plays a central role in the elucidation of chemical structures but is often limited by low sensitivity. Dissolution dynamic nuclear polarization (dDNP) emerges as a transformative methodology for both solution-state NMR and metabolic NMR imaging, which could overcome this limitation. Typically, dDNP relies on combining a stable radical with the analyte within a uniform glass under cryogenic conditions. The electron polarization is then transferred through microwave irradiation to the nuclei. The present study explores the use of radicals introduced via γ-irradiation, as bearers of the electron spins that will enhance 1H or 13C nuclides. 1H solid-state NMR spectra of γ-irradiated powders at 1-5 K revealed, upon microwave irradiation, signal enhancements that, in general, were higher than those achieved through conventional glass-based DNP. Transfer of these samples to a solution-state NMR spectrometer via a rapid dissolution driven by a superheated water provided significant enhancements of solution-state 1H NMR signals. Enhancements of 13C signals in the γ-irradiated solids were more modest, as a combined consequence of a low radical concentration and of the dilute concentration of 13C in the natural abundant samples examined. Nevertheless, ca. 700-800-fold enhancements in 13C solution NMR spectra of certain sites recorded at 11.7 T could still be achieved. A total disappearance of the radicals upon performing a dDNP-like aqueous dissolution and a high stability of the samples were found. Overall, the study showcases the advantages and limitations of γ-irradiated radicals as candidates for advancing spectroscopic dDNP-enhanced NMR.

Dipolar Order Induced Electron Spin Hyperpolarization

The structure of coupled electron spin systems is of fundamental interest to many applications, including dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP), enhanced nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), the generation of electron spin qubits for quantum information science (QIS), and quantitative studies of paramagnetic systems by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). However, the characterization of electron spin coupling networks is nontrivial, especially at high magnetic fields. This study focuses on a system containing high concentrations of trityl radicals that give rise to a DNP enhancement profile of 1H NMR characteristic of the presence of electron spin clusters. When this system is subject to selective microwave saturation through pump-probe ELectron DOuble Resonance (ELDOR) experiments, electron spin hyperpolarization is observed. We show that the generation of an out-of-equilibrium longitudinal dipolar order is responsible for the transient hyperpolarization of electron spins. Notably, the coupled electron spin system needs to form an AX-like system (where the difference in the Zeeman interactions of two spins is larger than their coupling interaction) such that selective microwave irradiation can generate signatures of electron spin hyperpolarization. We show that the extent of dipolar order, as manifested in the extent of electron spin hyperpolarization generated, can be altered by tuning the pump or probe pulse length, or the interpulse delay in ELDOR experiments that change the efficiency to generate or readout longitudinal dipolar order. Pump-probe ELDOR with selective saturation is an effective means for characterizing coupled electron spins forming AX-type spin systems that are foundational for DNP and quantum sensing.

Multi Electron Spin Cluster Enabled Dynamic Nuclear Polarization with Sulfonated BDPA

Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) can amplify the solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) signal by several orders of magnitude. The mechanism of DNP utilizing α,γ-bisdiphenylene-β-phenylallyl (BDPA) variants as Polarizing Agents (PA) has been the subject of lively discussions on account of their remarkable DNP efficiency with low demand for microwave power. We propose that electron spin clustering of sulfonated BDPA is responsible for its DNP performance, as revealed by the temperature-dependent shape of the central DNP profile and strong electron-electron (e-e) crosstalk seen by Electron Double Resonance. We demonstrate that a multielectron spin cluster can be modeled with three coupled spins, where electron J (exchange) coupling between one of the e-e pairs matching the NMR Larmor frequency induces the experimentally observed absorptive central DNP profile, and the electron T1e modulated by temperature and magic-angle spinning alters the shape between an absorptive and dispersive feature. Understanding the microscopic origin is key to designing new PAs to harness the microwave-power-efficient DNP effect observed with BDPA variants.

Resonant Mixing Dynamic Nuclear Polarization

We propose a mechanism for dynamic nuclear polarization that is different from the well-known Overhauser effect, solid effect, cross effect, and thermal mixing processes. We term it Resonant Mixing (RM), and we show that it arises from the evolution of the density matrix for a simple electron-nucleus coupled spin pair subject to weak microwave irradiation, the same interactions as the solid effect. However, the SE is optimal when the microwave field is off-resonance, whereas RM is optimal when the microwave field is on-resonance and involves the mixing of states by the microwave field together with the electron-nuclear coupling. Finally, we argue that this mechanism is responsible for the observed dispersive-shaped DNP field profile for trityl samples near the electron paramagnetic resonance center.

Terahertz EPR spectroscopy using a 36-tesla high-homogeneity series-connected hybrid magnet

Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) is a powerful technique to study materials and biological samples on an atomic scale. High-field EPR in particular enables extracting very small g-anisotropies in organic radicals and half-filled 3d and 4f metal ions such as MnII (3d5) or GdIII (4f7), and resolving EPR signals from unpaired spins with very close g-values, both of which provide high-resolution details of the local atomic environment. Before the recent commissioning of the high-homogeneity Series Connected Hybrid magnet (SCH, superconducting + resistive) at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (NHMFL), the highest-field, high-resolution EPR spectrometer available was limited to 25 T using a purely resistive "Keck" magnet at the NHMFL. Herein, we report the first EPR experiments performed using the SCH magnet capable of reaching the field of 36 T, corresponding to an EPR frequency of 1 THz for g = 2. The magnet's intrinsic homogeneity (25 ppm, that is 0.9 mT at 36 T over 1 cm diameter, 1 cm length cylinder) was previously established by NMR. We characterized the magnet's temporal stability (5 ppm, which is 0.2 mT at 36 T over one-minute, the typical acquisition time) using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH). This high resolution enables resolving the weak g-anisotropy of 1,3-bis(diphenylene)-2-phenylallyl (BDPA), Δg = 2.5 × 10-4 obtained from measurements at 932 GHz and 33 T. Subsequently, we recorded EPR spectra at multiple frequencies for two GdIII complexes with potential applications as spin labels. We demonstrated a significant reduction in line broadening in Gd[DTPA], attributed to second order zero field splitting, and a resolution enhancement of g-tensor anisotropy for Gd[sTPATCN]-SL.

Frequency-swept dynamic nuclear polarization

Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) improves the sensitivity of NMR spectroscopy by the transfer of electron polarization to nuclei via irradiation of electron-nuclear transitions with microwaves at the appropriate frequency. For fields > 5 T and using g ∼ 2 electrons as polarizing agents, this requires the availability of microwave sources operating at >140 GHz. Therefore, microwave sources for DNP have generally been continuous-wave (CW) gyrotrons, and more recently solid state, oscillators operating at a fixed frequency and power. This constraint has limited the DNP mechanisms which can be exploited, and stymied the development of new time domain mechanisms. We report here the incorporation of a microwave source enabling facile modulation of frequency, amplitude, and phase at 9 T (250 GHz microwave frequency), and we have used the source for magic-angle spinning (MAS) NMR experiments. The experiments include investigations of CW DNP mechanisms, the advantage of frequency-chirped irradiation, and a demonstration of an Overhauser enhancement of ∼25 with a recently reported water-soluble BDPA radical, highlighting the potential for affordable and compact microwave sources to achieve significant enhancement in aqueous samples, including biological macromolecules. With the development of suitable microwave amplifiers, it should permit exploration of multiple new avenues involving time domain experiments.

Polarizing agents for efficient high field DNP solid-state NMR spectroscopy under magic-angle spinning: from design principles to formulation strategies

Dynamic Nuclear Polarization (DNP) has recently emerged as a cornerstone approach to enhance the sensitivity of solid-state NMR spectroscopy under Magic Angle Spinning (MAS), opening unprecedented analytical opportunities in chemistry and biology. DNP relies on a polarization transfer from unpaired electrons (present in endogenous or exogenous polarizing agents) to nearby nuclei. Developing and designing new polarizing sources for DNP solid-state NMR spectroscopy is currently an extremely active research field per se, that has recently led to significant breakthroughs and key achievements, in particular at high magnetic fields. This review describes recent developments in this area, highlighting key design principles that have been established over time and led to the introduction of increasingly more efficient polarizing sources. After a short introduction, Section 2 presents a brief history of solid-state DNP, highlighting the main polarization transfer schemes. The third section is devoted to the development of dinitroxide radicals, discussing the guidelines that were progressively established to design the fine-tuned molecular structures in use today. In Section 4, we describe recent efforts in developing hybrid radicals composed of a narrow EPR line radical covalently linked to a nitroxide, highlighting the parameters that modulate the DNP efficiency of these mixed structures. Section 5 reviews recent advances in the design of metal complexes suitable for DNP MAS NMR as exogenous electron sources. In parallel, current strategies that exploit metal ions as endogenous polarization sources are discussed. Section 6 briefly describes the recent introduction of mixed-valence radicals. In the last part, experimental aspects regarding sample formulation are reviewed to make best use of these polarizing agents in a broad panel of application fields.

Efficient 18.8 T MAS-DNP NMR reveals hidden side chains in amyloid fibrils

Amyloid fibrils are large and insoluble protein assemblies composed of a rigid core associated with a cross-β arrangement rich in β-sheet structural elements. It has been widely observed in solid-state NMR experiments that semi-rigid protein segments or side chains do not yield easily observable NMR signals at room temperature. The reasons for the missing peaks may be due to the presence of unfavorable dynamics that interfere with NMR experiments, which result in very weak or unobservable NMR signals. Therefore, for amyloid fibrils, semi-rigid and dynamically disordered segments flanking the amyloid core are very challenging to study. Here, we show that high-field dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP), an NMR hyperpolarization technique typically performed at low temperatures, can circumvent this issue because (i) the low-temperature environment (~ 100 K) slows down the protein dynamics to escape unfavorable detection regime, (ii) DNP improves the overall NMR sensitivity including those of flexible side chains, and (iii) efficient cross-effect DNP biradicals (SNAPol-1) optimized for high-field DNP (≥ 18.8 T) are employed to offer high sensitivity and resolution suitable for biomolecular NMR applications. By combining these factors, we have successfully established an impressive enhancement factor of ε ~ 50 on amyloid fibrils using an 18.8 T/ 800 MHz magnet. We have compared the DNP efficiencies of M-TinyPol, NATriPol-3, and SNAPol-1 biradicals on amyloid fibrils. We found that SNAPol-1 (with ε ~ 50) outperformed the other two radicals. The MAS DNP experiments revealed signals of flexible side chains previously inaccessible at conventional room-temperature experiments. These results demonstrate the potential of MAS-DNP NMR as a valuable tool for structural investigations of amyloid fibrils, particularly for side chains and dynamically disordered segments otherwise hidden at room temperature.

The solid effect of dynamic nuclear polarization in liquids

The solid-state effect of dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) is operative also in viscous liquids where the dipolar interaction between the electronic and nuclear spins is partially averaged. The proper way to quantify the degree of averaging, and thus calculate the efficiency of the effect, should be based on the time-correlation function of the dipolar interaction. Here we use the stochastic Liouville equation formalism to develop a general theoretical description of the solid effect in liquids. The derived expressions can be used with different dipolar correlations functions depending on the assumed motional model. At high magnetic fields, the theory predicts DNP enhancements at small offsets, far from the classical solid-effect positions that are displaced by one nuclear Larmor frequency from the electronic resonance. The predictions are in quantitative agreement with such enhancement peaks observed at 9.4 T . These non-canonical peaks are not due to thermal mixing or the cross effect but exactly follow the dispersive component of the EPR line.

Frontiers in the Application of RF Vacuum Electronics

The application of radio frequency (RF) vacuum electronics for the betterment of the human condition began soon after the invention of the first vacuum tubes in the 1920s and has not stopped since. Today, microwave vacuum devices are powering important applications in health treatment, material and biological science, wireless communication-terrestrial and space, Earth environment remote sensing, and the promise of safe, reliable, and inexhaustible energy. This article highlights some of the exciting application frontiers of vacuum electronics.

Mechanistic origins of methyl-driven Overhauser DNP

The Overhauser effect in the dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) of non-conducting solids has drawn much attention due to the potential for efficient high-field DNP as well as a general interest in the underlying principles that enable the Overhauser effect in small molecules. We recently reported the observation of 1H and 2H Overhauser effects in H3C- or D3C-functionalized Blatter radical analogs, which we presumed to be caused by methyl rotation. In this work, we look at the mechanism for methyl-driven Overhauser DNP in greater detail, considering methyl librations and tunneling in addition to classical rotation. We predict the temperature dependence of these mechanisms using density functional theory and spin dynamics simulations. Comparisons with results from ultralow-temperature magic angle spinning-DNP experiments revealed that cross-relaxation at temperatures above 60 K originates from both libration and rotation, while librations dominate at lower temperatures. Due to the zero-point vibrational nature of these motions, they are not quenched by very low temperatures, and methyl-driven Overhauser DNP is expected to increase in efficiency down to 0 K, predominantly due to increases in nuclear relaxation times.

Dynamic nuclear polarization with trityl radicals

Despite the expanding applications of dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) to problems in biological and materials science, there remain unresolved questions concerning DNP mechanisms. In this paper, we investigate the Zeeman DNP frequency profiles obtained with trityl radicals, OX063 and its partially deuterated analog OX071, in two commonly used glassing matrices based on glycerol and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). When microwave irradiation is applied in the neighborhood of the narrow EPR transition, we observe a dispersive shape in the ¹H Zeeman field and the effects are larger in DMSO than in glycerol. With the help of direct DNP observations on ¹³C and ²H nuclei, we investigate the origin of this dispersive field profile. In particular, we observe a weak nuclear Overhauser effect between ¹H and ¹³C in the sample, which, when irradiating at the positive ¹H solid effect (SE) condition, results in a negative enhancement of ¹³C spins. This observation is not consistent with thermal mixing (TM) being the mechanism responsible for the dispersive shape in the ¹H DNP Zeeman frequency profile. Instead, we propose a new mechanism, resonant mixing, involving mixing of nuclear and electron spin states in a simple two-spin system without invoking electron-electron dipolar interactions.

In-house fabrication of 1.3 to 7 mm MAS drive caps using desktop 3D printers

The 3D-printing technology has emerged as a well-developed method to produce parts with considerably low cost and yet with high precision (<100 μm). Recent literature has shown that the 3D-printing technology can be exploited to fabricate a magic-angle spinning (MAS) system in solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. In particular, it was demonstrated that advanced industry-grade 3D printers could fabricate 3.2 mm MAS drive caps with intricate features, and the caps were shown to spin > 20 kHz. Here, we show that not only lab-affordable benchtop 3D printers can produce 3.2 mm drive caps with a similar quality as the commercialized version, but also smaller 2.5 mm and 1.3 mm MAS drive caps-despite a slight compromise in performance. All in-house fabricated drive caps (1.3 to 7 mm) can be consistently reproduced (>90 %) and achieve excellent spinning performances. In summary, the > 3.2 mm systems have similar performances as the commercial systems, while the 2.5- and 1.3-mm caps can spin up to 26 kHz ± 2 Hz, and 46 kHz ± 1 Hz, respectively. The low-cost and fast in-house fabrication of MAS drive caps allows easy prototyping of new MAS drive cap models and, possibly, new NMR applications. For instance, we have fabricated a 4 mm drive cap with a center hole that could allow better light penetration or sample insertion during MAS. Besides, an added groove design on the drive cap allows an airtight seal suitable for probing air- or moisture-sensitive materials. Moreover, the 3D-printed cap was shown to be robust for low-temperature MAS experiments at ∼ 100 K, making it suitable for DNP experiments.

Optical Spin Polarization of a Narrow-Linewidth Electron-Spin Qubit in a Chromophore/Stable-Radical System

Photoexcited organic chromophores appended to stable radicals can serve as qubit and/or qudit candidates for quantum information applications. 1,6,7,12-Tetra-(4-tert-butylphenoxy)-perylene-3,4 : 9,10-bis(dicarboximide) (tpPDI) linked to a partially deuterated α,γ-bisdiphenylene-β-phenylallyl radical (BDPA-d₁₆ ) was synthesized and characterized by time-resolved optical and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopies. Photoexcitation of tpPDI-BDPA-d₁₆ results in ultrafast radical-enhanced intersystem crossing to produce a quartet state (Q) followed by formation of a spin-polarized doublet ground state (D₀ ). Pulse-EPR experiments confirmed the spin multiplicity of Q and yielded coherence times of T_m =2.1±0.1 μs and 2.8±0.2 μs for Q and D₀ , respectively. BDPA-d₁₆ eliminates the dominant ¹ H hyperfine couplings, resulting in a single narrow line for both the Q and D₀ states, which enhances the spectral resolution needed for good qubit addressability.

Spin Hyperpolarization in Modern Magnetic Resonance

Magnetic resonance techniques are successfully utilized in a broad range of scientific disciplines and in various practical applications, with medical magnetic resonance imaging being the most widely known example. Currently, both fundamental and applied magnetic resonance are enjoying a major boost owing to the rapidly developing field of spin hyperpolarization. Hyperpolarization techniques are able to enhance signal intensities in magnetic resonance by several orders of magnitude, and thus to largely overcome its major disadvantage of relatively low sensitivity. This provides new impetus for existing applications of magnetic resonance and opens the gates to exciting new possibilities. In this review, we provide a unified picture of the many methods and techniques that fall under the umbrella term "hyperpolarization" but are currently seldom perceived as integral parts of the same field. Specifically, before delving into the individual techniques, we provide a detailed analysis of the underlying principles of spin hyperpolarization. We attempt to uncover and classify the origins of hyperpolarization, to establish its sources and the specific mechanisms that enable the flow of polarization from a source to the target spins. We then give a more detailed analysis of individual hyperpolarization techniques: the mechanisms by which they work, fundamental and technical requirements, characteristic applications, unresolved issues, and possible future directions. We are seeing a continuous growth of activity in the field of spin hyperpolarization, and we expect the field to flourish as new and improved hyperpolarization techniques are implemented. Some key areas for development are in prolonging polarization lifetimes, making hyperpolarization techniques more generally applicable to chemical/biological systems, reducing the technical and equipment requirements, and creating more efficient excitation and detection schemes. We hope this review will facilitate the sharing of knowledge between subfields within the broad topic of hyperpolarization, to help overcome existing challenges in magnetic resonance and enable novel applications.

Amplified Overhauser DNP with Selective Deuteration: Attenuation of Double-Quantum Cross-Relaxation

We recently used selective ²H labeling of BDPA to investigate the Overhauser Effect (OE) dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) mechanism in insulating solids doped with 1,3-bis(diphenylene)-2-phenylallyl (BDPA), and established that the α and γ ¹H spins on the fluorene rings are responsible for generating a zero quantum (ZQ) mediated positive bulk polarization. Here, we establish that the phenyl ¹H spins relax via double-quantum (DQ) processes and therefore contribute negative enhancements which attenuate the OE-DNP. With measurements at different magnetic field strengths, we show that phenyl-d₅-BDPA offers >50% improvement in OE-DNP enhancement compared to h₂₁-BDPA attaining a maximum of ∼90 at 14.1 T and 5 kHz MAS, the highest observed OE-DNP enhancement to date under these conditions. The approach may be utilized to optimize other polarizing agents exhibiting an OE, an important DNP mechanism with a favorable field and spinning frequency dependence.

Observing Nearby Nuclei on Paramagnetic Trityls and MOFs via DNP and Electron Decoupling

Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) is an NMR sensitivity enhancement technique that mediates polarization transfer from unpaired electrons to NMR-active nuclei. Despite its success in elucidating important structural information on biological and inorganic materials, the detailed polarization-transfer pathway from the electrons to the nearby and then the bulk solvent nuclei, and finally to the molecules of interest-remains unclear. In particular, the nuclei in the paramagnetic polarizing agent play significant roles in relaying the enhanced NMR polarizations to more remote nuclei. Despite their importance, the direct NMR observation of these nuclei is challenging because of poor sensitivity. Here, we show that a combined DNP and electron decoupling approach can facilitate direct NMR detection of these nuclei. We achieved an ∼80 % improvement in NMR intensity via electron decoupling at 0.35 T and 80 K on trityl radicals. Moreover, we recorded a DNP enhancement factor of ϵ ${\varepsilon{} }$ ∼90 and ∼11 % higher NMR intensity using electron decoupling on paramagnetic metal-organic framework, magnesium hexaoxytriphenylene (MgHOTP MOF).

Integrated, Stretched, and Adiabatic Solid Effects

This paper presents a theory describing the dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) process associated with an arbitrary frequency swept microwave pulse. The theory is utilized to explain the integrated solid effect (ISE) as well as the newly discovered stretched solid effect (SSE) and adiabatic solid effect (ASE). It is verified with experiments performed at 9.4 GHz (0.34 T) on single crystals of naphthalene doped with pentacene-d₁₄. It is shown that the SSE and ASE can be more efficient than the ISE. Furthermore, the theory predicts that the efficiency of the SSE improves at high magnetic fields, where the EPR line width is small compared to the nuclear Larmor frequency. In addition, we show that the ISE, SSE, and ASE are based on similar physical principles and we suggest definitions to distinguish among them.

Methyl-Driven Overhauser Dynamic Nuclear Polarization

The Overhauser effect is unique among DNP mechanisms in that it requires the modulation of the electron-nuclear hyperfine interactions. While it dominates DNP in liquids and metals, where unpaired electrons are highly mobile, Overhauser DNP is possible in insulating solids if rapid structural modulations are linked to a modulation in hyperfine coupling. Herein, we report that Overhauser DNP can be triggered by the strategic addition of a methyl group, demonstrated here in a Blatter's radical. The rotation of the methyl group leads to a modulation of the hyperfine coupling to its protons, which in turn facilitates electron-nuclear cross-relaxation. Removal of the methyl protons, through deuteration, quenches the process, as does the reduction of the hyperfine coupling strength. This result suggests the possibility for the design of tailor-made Overhauser DNP polarizing agents for high-field MAS-DNP.

Solid-like Dynamic Nuclear Polarization Observed in the Fluid Phase of Lipid Bilayers at 9.4 T

Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) is a powerful method to enhance NMR sensitivity. Much progress has been achieved recently to optimize DNP performance at high magnetic fields in solid-state samples, mostly by utilizing the solid or the cross effect. In liquids, only the Overhauser mechanism is active, which exhibits a DNP field profile matching the EPR line shape of the radical, distinguishable from other DNP mechanisms. Here, we observe DNP enhancements with a field profile indicative of the solid effect and thermal mixing at ∼320 K and a magnetic field of 9.4 T in the fluid phase of 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DMPC) lipid bilayers doped with the radical BDPA (1,3-bis(diphenylene)-2-phenylallyl). This interesting observation might open up new perspectives for DNP applications in macromolecular systems at ambient temperatures.