Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 4, 2026

Atomic Scale Structural Studies of Macromolecular Assemblies by Solid-state Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
Published on: September 17, 2017
Photo-CIDNP 13C magic angle spinning NMR on bacterial reaction centres: exploring the electronic structure of the
1Leiden Institute of Chemistry, Gorlaeus Laboratoria, The Netherlands.
Abstract:
Photochemically induced dynamic nuclear polarisation (photo-CIDNP) in intact bacterial reaction centres has been observed by 13C-solid state NMR under continuous illumination with white light. Strong intensity enhancement of 13C NMR signals of the aromatic rings allows probing the electronic ground state of the two BChl cofactors of the special pair at the molecular scale with atomic selectivity. Differences between the two BChl cofactors are discussed. Several aliphatic 13C atoms of cofactors, as well as 13C atoms of the imidazole ring of histidine residue(s), show nuclear-spin polarisation to the same extent as the aromatic nuclei of the cofactors. Mechanisms and applications of polarisation transfer are discussed.
Related Concept Videos
¹³C NMR: Distortionless Enhancement by Polarization Transfer (DEPT)
¹³C NMR: ¹H–¹³C Decoupling
A broadband decoupling technique is used to simplify these complex, sometimes overlapping, signals. Broadband decoupling relies on a...
NMR Spectroscopy: Spin–Spin Coupling
Carbon-13 (¹³C) NMR: Overview
¹H NMR: Interpreting Distorted and Overlapping Signals
As Δν decreases and the signals move closer, the doublets appear increasingly distorted. The intensities of the inner lines increase at the cost of those of the outer lines as the signals are slanted or...
Insensitive Nuclei Enhanced by Polarization Transfer (INEPT)

