James Daley, Joseph Siciliano, Vincent Ferraro, Elodie Sutter, Adam Lounsbery, Nicholas Whiting
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
The para spin isomer of hydrogen gas possesses high nuclear spin order that can enhance the NMR signals of a variety of molecular species. Hydrogen is routinely enriched in the para spin state by lowering the gas temperature while flowing through a catalyst. Although parahydrogen enrichments approaching 100% are achievable near the H2 liquefaction temperature of 20 K, many experimentalists operate at liquid nitrogen temperatures (77 K) due to the lower associated costs and overall simplicity of the parahydrogen generator. Parahydrogen that is generated at 77 K provides an enrichment value of ~51% of the para spin isomer; while useful, there are many applications that can benefit from low-cost access to higher parahydrogen enrichments. Here, we introduce a method of improving parahydrogen enrichment values using a liquid nitrogen-cooled generator that operates at temperatures less than 77 K. The boiling temperature of liquid nitrogen is lowered through internal evaporation into helium gas bubbles that are injected into the liquid. Changes to liquid nitrogen temperatures and parahydrogen enrichment values were monitored as a function of helium gas flow rate. The injected helium bubbles lowered the liquid nitrogen temperature to ~65.5 K, and parahydrogen enrichments of up to ~59% were achieved; this represents an ~16% improvement compared with the expected parahydrogen fraction at 77 K. This technique is simple to implement in standard liquid nitrogen-cooled parahydrogen generators and may be of interest to a wide range of scientists that require a cost-effective approach to improving parahydrogen enrichment values.
期刊介绍:
MRC is devoted to the rapid publication of papers which are concerned with the development of magnetic resonance techniques, or in which the application of such techniques plays a pivotal part. Contributions from scientists working in all areas of NMR, ESR and NQR are invited, and papers describing applications in all branches of chemistry, structural biology and materials chemistry are published.
The journal is of particular interest not only to scientists working in academic research, but also those working in commercial organisations who need to keep up-to-date with the latest practical applications of magnetic resonance techniques.