1H Detected Relayed Dynamic Nuclear Polarization

Recently, it has been shown that methods based on the dynamics of 1 H nuclear hyperpolarization in magic angle spinning (MAS) NMR experiments can be used to determine mesoscale structures in complex materials. However, these methods suffer from low sensitivity, especially since they have so far only been feasible with indirect detection of 1 H polarization through dilute heteronuclei such as 13C or 29Si. Here we combine relayed-DNP (R-DNP) with fast MAS using 0.7 mm diameter rotors at 21.2 T. Fast MAS enables direct 1 H detection to follow hyperpolarization dynamics, leading to an acceleration in experiment times by a factor 16. Furthermore, we show that by varying the MAS rate, and consequently modulating the 1 H spin diffusion rate, we can record a series of independent R-DNP curves that can be analyzed jointly to provide an accurate determination of domain sizes. This is confirmed here with measurements on microcrystalline L-histidinemiddotHClmiddotH2O at MAS frequencies up to 60 kHz, where we determine a Weibull distribution of particle sizes centered on a radius of 440 +/- 20 nm with an order parameter of k = 2.2.

Automated summary

Recently, methods based on the dynamics of 1H nuclear hyperpolarization in magic angle spinning (MAS) NMR experiments have been used to determine mesoscale structures in complex materials. However, these methods have low sensitivity and have only been feasible using indirect detection of 1H polarization through dilute heteronuclei. In this study, relayed-DNP (R-DNP) combined with fast MAS enables direct 1H detection, accelerating experiment times by a factor of 16. Varying the MAS rate allows for recording a series of independent R-DNP curves that can be jointly analyzed to accurately determine domain sizes.