Issue 15, 2010

Applications of dynamic nuclear polarization to the study of reactions and reagents in organic and biomolecular chemistry

Abstract

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) is an important spectroscopic tool for the identification and structural characterization of molecules in chemistry and biochemistry. The most significant limitation of NMR compared to other spectroscopies is its relatively low sensitivity, which thus often requires long measurement times or large amounts of sample. A way of increasing sensitivity of single scan NMR spectra by several orders of magnitude is through hyperpolarization of nuclear spins. Dynamic nuclear polarization allows hyperpolarization of most spins in small molecules encountered in chemistry and biochemistry. NMR spectra of small amounts of samples from natural source, or from chemical synthesis can readily be acquired. Perhaps more interestingly, the availability of the entire hyperpolarized NMR signal in one single scan allows the measurement of transient processes in real time, if applied together with a stopped-flow technique. Through observation of chemical shift, different reactant and product species can be distinguished, and kinetics and mechanisms, for example in enzyme catalyzed reactions, can be elucidated. Real-time hyperpolarization-enhanced NMR is uniquely amenable to correlating atomic positions not only through space, but also over time between reactant and product species. Such correlations carry mechanistic information about a reaction, and can prove reaction pathways. Applications of this technique are emerging in different areas of chemistry concerned with rapid reactions, including not only enzymatic processes, but also chemical catalysis and protein folding.

Graphical abstract: Applications of dynamic nuclear polarization to the study of reactions and reagents in organic and biomolecular chemistry

Article information

Article type
Emerging Area
Submitted
17 Mar 2010
Accepted
28 May 2010
First published
17 Jun 2010

Org. Biomol. Chem., 2010,8, 3361-3365

Applications of dynamic nuclear polarization to the study of reactions and reagents in organic and biomolecular chemistry

C. Hilty and S. Bowen, Org. Biomol. Chem., 2010, 8, 3361 DOI: 10.1039/C004420M

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements