The efficiency of DPPH as a polarising agent for DNP-NMR spectroscopy

Abstract

The free radical 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) was tested as a polarising agent for fast dissolution dynamic nuclear polarisation (DNP) NMR spectroscopy. DPPH was found to be reasonably soluble in sulfolane and the optimum concentration for DNP is 20–40 mM depending upon whether short polarisation times or the maximum signal intensity is needed. W-band ESR measurements revealed that the ESR linewidth D of DPPH is intermediate between that of BDPA and 4-oxo-TEMPO. Several thousand-fold NMR signal enhancements in the liquid-state were achieved for ¹³C, ¹⁵N, ⁸⁹Y, and ¹⁰⁹Ag compounds, demonstrating that DPPH can be added to the list of polarising agents for DNP-NMR spectroscopy. Furthermore, the hydrophobic DPPH free radical can be easily filtered out from the dissolution liquid when water is used as the dissolution solvent.