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Updated: Feb 14, 2026

Dissolution Dynamic Nuclear Polarization Instrumentation for Real-time Enzymatic Reaction Rate Measurements by NMR
Published on: February 23, 2016
Sample Ripening through Nanophase Separation Influences the Performance of Dynamic Nuclear Polarization
Emmanuelle M M Weber1, Giuseppe Sicoli2, Hervé Vezin2
1Laboratoire des biomolécules, LBM, Département de chimie, École normale supérieure, PSL University, Sorbonne Université, CNRS, 75005, Paris, France.
Abstract:
Mixtures of water and glycerol provide popular matrices for low-temperature spectroscopy of vitrified samples. However, they involve counterintuitive physicochemical properties, such as spontaneous nanoscopic phase separations (NPS) in solutions that appear macroscopically homogeneous. We demonstrate that such phenomena can substantially influence the efficiency of dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) by factors up to 20 % by causing fluctuations in local concentrations of polarization agents (radicals). Thus, a spontaneous NPS of water/glycerol mixtures that takes place on time scales on the order of 30-60 min results in a confinement of polarization agents in nanoscopic water-rich vesicles, which in return affects the DNP. Such effects were found for three common polarization agents, TEMPOL, AMUPol and Trityl.
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