Sensitivity Enhancement in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) by Para-hydrogen Induced Hyperpolarization (SenseNMR)

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is one of the most powerful techniques
for investigating the structure, composition, and dynamics of living and
non-living matter. Despite its widespread applications underlying low
sensitivity remains the achilles heel of the technique. Traditionally,
highly expensive superconducting magnets in conjunction with exceedingly
long scan times are required to alleviate the sensitivity challenge.
However, with ever increasing uncertainty of liquid Helium availability,
it has become clear that NMR must move towards sustainable options built
around permanent magnets. Over the last decade, NMR based on such
systems (known as benchtop NMR) has made significant progress and
clearly reflects the future of NMR. Tthe magnetic field strengths of the
benchtop magnets (~1 Tesla) are still though an order of magnitude lower
than those of conventional superconducting magnets. Unfortunately this
means they are categorized by even poorer sensitivity and meant for even
longer scan times which can run into days for a single sample.

In this project we will address both the long standing issues of
sensitivity and high cost associated with NMR spectroscopy. This will
involve the application of a technique called hyperpolarization. This
studentship will employ the novel SABRE, and recently developed
SABRE-Relay methods to achieve the spin hyperpolarization of the most
important nuclei including 1H, 13C, 15N, 19F and 31P which feature in an
array of important target molecules - chemical markers, agents,
metabolites, drugs etc. Subsequently, these hyperpolarized targets will
be employed for a range of NMR applications from rapid chemical
identification, tracking chemical fate, sample purity analysis and
kinetic studies. Novel analytical and NMR methodologies will be
developed to achieve these goals in conjunction with novel
instrumentation and automation protocols.