Sustainable and cost-effective MAS DNP-NMR at 30 K with cryogenic sample exchange

We report here instrumental developments to achieve sustainable, cost-effective cryogenic Helium sample spinning in order to conduct dynamic nuclear polarisation (DNP) and solid-state NMR (ssNMR) at ultra-low temperatures (<30 K). More specifically, we describe an efficient closed-loop helium system composed of a powerful heat exchanger (95% efficient), a single cryocooler, and a single helium compressor to power the sample spinning and cooling. The system is integrated with a newly designed triple-channel NMR probe that minimizes thermal losses without compromising the radio frequency (RF) performance and spinning stability (+/- 0.05%). The probe is equipped with an innovative cryogenic sample exchange system that allows swapping samples in minutes without introducing impurities in the closeloop system. We report that significant gain in sensitivity can be obtained at 30-40 K on large micro-crystalline molecules with unfavorable relaxation timescales, making them difficult or impossible to polarize at 100 K. We also report rotor-synchronized 2D experiments to demonstrate the stability of the system.

Automated summary

We report instrumental developments for sustainable and cost-effective cryogenic Helium sample spinning in order to conduct dynamic nuclear polarisation (DNP) and solid-state NMR (ssNMR) at ultra-low temperatures. The system integrates a powerful heat exchanger, a cryocooler, and a helium compressor, along with a triple-channel NMR probe that minimizes thermal losses and maintains RF performance and spinning stability. The system allows for significant sensitivity gain at low temperatures and includes an innovative cryogenic sample exchange system.