¹H Detected Relayed Dynamic Nuclear Polarization

Recently, it has been shown that methods based on the dynamics of ¹H nuclear hyperpolarization in magic angle spinning (MAS) NMR experiments can be used to determine mesoscale structures in complex materials. However, these methods suffer from low sensitivity, especially since they have so far only been feasible with indirect detection of ¹H polarization through dilute heteronuclei such as ¹³C or ²⁹Si. Here we combine relayed-DNP (R-DNP) with fast MAS using 0.7 mm diameter rotors at 21.2 T. Fast MAS enables direct ¹H detection to follow hyperpolarization dynamics, leading to an acceleration in experiment times by a factor 16. Furthermore, we show that by varying the MAS rate, and consequently modulating the ¹H spin diffusion rate, we can record a series of independent R-DNP curves that can be analyzed jointly to provide an accurate determination of domain sizes. This is confirmed here with measurements on microcrystalline l-histidine·HCl·H₂O at MAS frequencies up to 60 kHz, where we determine a Weibull distribution of particle sizes centered on a radius of 440 ± 20 nm with an order parameter of k = 2.2.