Solution-state ¹³C NMR gets a boost

Liu, G. et al. Nat. Chem. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nchem.2723 (2017).

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is widely used in organic chemistry, metabolomics and structural biology research, as well as for in vivo imaging, but this technique suffers from low sensitivity. Liu et al. describe an approach that boosts the sensitivity of solution-state ¹³C NMR by 1,000-fold via the application of dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) using nitroxide radical polarizers. Although DNP is very often used in solid-state NMR applications to improve signal-to-noise ratios, it has been a challenge to implement DNP in combination with high-magnetic-field solution-state ¹³C NMR studies. The new method enabled the authors to analyze biologically relevant compounds, including metabolites, at room temperature and with greatly enhanced sensitivity. The DNP technique may yet prove to be a general approach to increase the sensitivity of solution-state NMR.