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Updated: May 4, 2026

Dissolution Dynamic Nuclear Polarization Instrumentation for Real-time Enzymatic Reaction Rate Measurements by NMR
Published on: February 23, 2016
Communication: permanent dipoles contribute to electric polarization in chiral NMR spectra
1Department of Chemistry, Cambridge University, Cambridge CB2 1EW, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy is blind to chirality because the spectra of a molecule and its mirror image are identical unless the environment is chiral. However, precessing nuclear magnetic moments in chiral molecules in a strong magnetic field induce an electric polarization through the nuclear magnetic shielding polarizability. This effect is equal and opposite for a molecule and its mirror image but is small and has not yet been observed. It is shown that the permanent electric dipole moment of a chiral molecule is partially oriented through the antisymmetric part of the nuclear magnetic shielding tensor, causing the electric dipole to precess with the nuclear magnetic moment and producing a much larger temperature-dependent electric polarization with better prospects of detection.
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