Spontaneous 15N Nuclear Spin Hyperpolarization in Metal-Free Activation of Parahydrogen by Molecular Tweezers

The ability of frustrated Lewis pairs (FLPs) to activate H-2 is of significant interest for metal-free catalysis. The activation of H-2 is also the key element of parahydrogen-induced polarization (PHIP), one of the nuclear spin hyper polarization techniques. It is demonstrated that o-phenylene-based ansa-aminoboranes (AABs) can produce H-1 nuclear spin hyperpolarization through a reversible interaction with parahydrogen at ambient temperatures. Heteronuclei are useful in NMR and MRI as well because they have a broad chemical shift range and long relaxation times and may act as background-free labels. We report spontaneous formation of N-15 hyperpolarization of the N-H site for a family of AABs. The process is efficient at the high magnetic field of an NMR magnet (7 T), and it provides up to 350-fold N-15 signal enhancements. Different hyperpolarization effects are observed with various AAB structures and in a broad temperature range. Spontaneous hyperpolarization, albeit an order of magnitude weaker than that for N-15, was also observed for B-11 nuclei.