Optimal sensitivity for 1H detected relayed DNP of organic solids at fast MAS

Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) combined with high magnetic fields and fast magic angle spinning (MAS) has opened up a new avenue for the application of exceptionally sensitive ¹H NMR detection schemes to study protonated solids. Recently, it has been shown that DNP experiments at fast MAS rates lead to slower spin diffusion and hence reduced DNP enhancements for impregnated materials. However, DNP enhancements alone do not determine the overall sensitivity of a NMR experiment. Here we measure the overall sensitivity of one-dimensional ¹H detected relayed DNP experiments as a function of the MAS rate in the 20–60 kHz regime using 0.7 mm diameter rotors at 21.2 T. Although faster MAS rates are detrimental for the DNP enhancement on the target material, due to slower spin diffusion, we find that with increasing spinning rates the gain in sensitivity due to ¹H line-narrowing and the folding-in of sideband intensity compensates a large part of the loss of overall hyperpolarization. We find that sensitivity depends on the atomic site in the molecule, and is maximised at between 40 and 50 kHz MAS for the sample of L-histidine.HCl·H₂O studied here. There is a 10–20 % difference in sensitivity between the optimum MAS rate and the fastest rate currently accessible (60 kHz).