Proton-driven spin diffusion in rotating solids via reversible and irreversible quantum dynamics

Proton-driven spin diffusion (PDSD) experiments in rotating solids have received a great deal of attention as a potential source of distance constraints in large biomolecules. However, the quantitative relationship between the molecular structure and observed spin diffusion has remained obscure due to the lack of an accurate theoretical description of the spin dynamics in these experiments. We start with presenting a detailed relaxation theory of PDSD in rotating solids that provides such a description. The theory applies to both conventional and radio-frequency-assisted PDSD experiments and extends to the non-Markovian regime to include such phenomena as rotational resonance (R-2). The basic kinetic equation of the theory in the non-Markovian regime has the form of a memory function equation, with the role of the memory function played by the correlation function. The key assumption used in the derivation of this equation expresses the intuitive notion of the irreversible dissipation of coherences in macroscopic systems. Accurate expressions for the correlation functions and for the spin diffusion constants are given. The theory predicts that the spin diffusion constants governing the multi-site PDSD can be approximated by the constants observed in the two-site diffusion. Direct numerical simulations of PDSD dynamics via reversible Liouville-von Neumann equation are presented to support and compliment the theory. Remarkably, an exponential decay of the difference magnetization can be observed in such simulations in systems consisting of only 12 spins. This is a unique example of a real physical system whose typically macroscopic and apparently irreversible behavior can be traced via reversible microscopic dynamics. An accurate value for the spin diffusion constant can be usually obtained through direct simulations of PDSD in systems consisting of two C-13 nuclei and about ten H-1 nuclei from their nearest environment. Spin diffusion constants computed by this method are in excellent agreement with the spin diffusion constants obtained through equations given by the relaxation theory of PDSD. The constants resulting from these two approaches were also in excellent agreement with the results of 2D rotary resonance recoupling proton-driven spin diffusion (R-3-PDSD) experiments performed in three model compounds, where magnetization exchange occurred over distances up to 4.9 angstrom. With the methodology presented, highly accurate internuclear distances can be extracted from such data. Relayed transfer of magnetization between distant nuclei appears to be the main (and apparently resolvable) source of uncertainty in such measurements. The non-Markovian kinetic equation was applied to the analysis of the R-2 spin dynamics. The conventional semi-phenomenological treatment of relxation in R-2 has been shown to be equivalent to the assumption of the Lorentzian spectral density function in the relaxatoin theory of PDSD. As this assumption is a poor approximation in real physical systems, the conventional R-2 treatment is likely to carry a significant model error that has not been recognized previously. The relaxation theory of PDSD appears to provide an accurate, parameter-free alternative. Predictions of this theory agreed well with the full quantum mechanical simulations of the R-2 dynamics in the few simple model systems we considered. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3635374]