Repetitive cross-polarization contacts via equilibration-re-equilibration of the proton bath: Sensitivity enhancement for NMR of membrane proteins reconstituted in magnetically aligned bicelles.

Thermodynamic limit of magnetization corresponding to the intact proton bath usually cannot be transferred in a single cross-polarization contact. This is mainly due to the finite ratio between the number densities of the high- and low-gamma nuclei, quantum-mechanical bounds on spin dynamics, and Hartmann-Hahn mismatches due to rf field inhomogeneity. Moreover, for fully hydrated membrane proteins refolded in magnetically oriented bicelles, short spin-lock relaxation times (T1ρ) and rf heating can further decrease cross polarization efficiency. Here we show that multiple equilibrations-re-equilibrations of the high- and low-spin reservoirs during the preparation period yield an over twofold gain in the magnetization transfer as compared to a single-contact cross polarization (CP), and up to 45% enhancement as compared to the mismatch-optimized CP-MOIST scheme for bicelle-reconstituted membrane proteins. This enhancement is achieved by employing the differences between the spin-lattice relaxation times for the high- and low-gamma spins. The new technique is applicable to systems with short T1ρ's, and speeds up acquisition of the multidimensional solid-state NMR spectra of oriented membrane proteins for their subsequent structural and dynamic studies.