BDPA-Doped Polystyrene Beads as Polarization Agents for DNP-NMR.

The aromatic free radical BDPA (α,γ-bisdiphenylene-β-phenylallyl), which has been widely used as a polarizing agent for Dynamic Nuclear Polarization (DNP) of hydrophobic analytes, has been incorporated into nanometer-scale polystyrene latex beads. We have shown that the resulting BDPA-doped beads can be used to hyperpolarize (13)C and (7)Li nuclei in aqueous environments, without the need for a glassing cosolvent. DNP enhancement factors of between 20 and 100 were achieved with overall BDPA concentrations of 2 mM or less. These Highly-Effective Polymer/Radical Beads (HYPR-beads) have potential use as an inexpensive polarizing agent for water-soluble analytes, and also have applications as model nanoparticles in DNP studies.