Microfluidic Gas-Flow Imaging Utilizing Parahydrogen-Induced Polarization and Remote-Detection NMR

Heterogeneous Catalysis and Parahydrogen-Induced Polarization

Parahydrogen-induced polarization with heterogeneous catalysts (HET-PHIP) has been a subject of extensive research in the last decade since its first observation in 2007. While NMR signal enhancements obtained with such catalysts are currently below those achieved with transition metal complexes in homogeneous hydrogenations in solution, this relatively new field demonstrates major prospects for a broad range of advanced fundamental and practical applications, from providing catalyst-free hyperpolarized fluids for biomedical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to exploring mechanisms of industrially important heterogeneous catalytic processes. This review covers the evolution of the heterogeneous catalysts used for PHIP observation, from metal complexes immobilized on solid supports to bulk metals and single-atom catalysts and discusses the general visions for maximizing the obtained NMR signal enhancements using HET-PHIP. Various practical applications of HET-PHIP, both for catalytic studies and for potential production of hyperpolarized contrast agents for MRI, are described.

Parahydrogen-Based Hyperpolarization for Biomedicine

Magnetic resonance (MR) is one of the most versatile and useful physical effects used for human imaging, chemical analysis, and the elucidation of molecular structures. However, its full potential is rarely used, because only a small fraction of the nuclear spin ensemble is polarized, that is, aligned with the applied static magnetic field. Hyperpolarization methods seek other means to increase the polarization and thus the MR signal. A unique source of pure spin order is the entangled singlet spin state of dihydrogen, parahydrogen (pH2 ), which is inherently stable and long-lived. When brought into contact with another molecule, this "spin order on demand" allows the MR signal to be enhanced by several orders of magnitude. Considerable progress has been made in the past decade in the area of pH2 -based hyperpolarization techniques for biomedical applications. It is the goal of this Review to provide a selective overview of these developments, covering the areas of spin physics, catalysis, instrumentation, preparation of the contrast agents, and applications.

NMR Hyperpolarization Techniques of Gases

Nuclear spin polarization can be significantly increased through the process of hyperpolarization, leading to an increase in the sensitivity of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments by 4-8 orders of magnitude. Hyperpolarized gases, unlike liquids and solids, can often be readily separated and purified from the compounds used to mediate the hyperpolarization processes. These pure hyperpolarized gases enabled many novel MRI applications including the visualization of void spaces, imaging of lung function, and remote detection. Additionally, hyperpolarized gases can be dissolved in liquids and can be used as sensitive molecular probes and reporters. This Minireview covers the fundamentals of the preparation of hyperpolarized gases and focuses on selected applications of interest to biomedicine and materials science.

In situ and ex situ low-field NMR spectroscopy and MRI endowed by SABRE hyperpolarization

By using 5.75 and 47.5 mT nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, up to 10(5)-fold sensitivity enhancement through signal amplification by reversible exchange (SABRE) was enabled, and subsecond temporal resolution was used to monitor an exchange reaction that resulted in the buildup and decay of hyperpolarized species after parahydrogen bubbling. We demonstrated the high-resolution low-field proton magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of pyridine in a 47.5 mT magnetic field endowed by SABRE. Molecular imaging (i.e. imaging of dilute hyperpolarized substances rather than the bulk medium) was conducted in two regimes: in situ real-time MRI of the reaction mixture (in which pyridine was hyperpolarized), and ex situ MRI (in which hyperpolarization decays) of the liquid hyperpolarized product. Low-field (milli-Tesla range, e.g. 5.75 and 47.5 mT used in this study) parahydrogen-enhanced NMR and MRI, which are free from the limitations of high-field magnetic resonance (including susceptibility-induced gradients of the static magnetic field at phase interfaces), potentially enables new imaging applications as well as differentiation of hyperpolarized chemical species on demand by exploiting spin manipulations with static and alternating magnetic fields.

Heterogeneous solution NMR signal amplification by reversible exchange

A novel variant of an iridium-based organometallic catalyst was synthesized and used to enhance the NMR signals of pyridine in a heterogeneous phase by immobilization on polymer microbead solid supports. Upon administration of parahydrogen (pH2) gas to a methanol mixture containing the HET-SABRE catalyst particles and the pyridine, up to fivefold enhancements were observed in the (1)H NMR spectra after sample transfer to high field (9.4 T). Importantly, enhancements were not due to any residual catalyst molecules in solution, thus supporting the true heterogeneity of the SABRE process. Further significant improvements may be expected by systematic optimization of experimental parameters. Moreover, the heterogeneous catalyst is easy to separate and recycle, thus opening a door to future potential applications varying from spectroscopic studies of catalysis, to imaging metabolites in the body without concern of contamination from expensive and potentially toxic metal catalysts or accompanying organic molecules.

High-resolution 3D proton MRI of hyperpolarized gas enabled by parahydrogen and Rh/TiO2 heterogeneous catalyst

Several supported metal catalysts were synthesized, characterized, and tested in heterogeneous hydrogenation of propene with parahydrogen to maximize nuclear spin hyperpolarization of propane gas using parahydrogen induced polarization (PHIP). The Rh/TiO2 catalyst with a metal particle size of 1.6 nm was found to be the most active and effective in the pairwise hydrogen addition and robust, demonstrating reproducible results with multiple hydrogenation experiments and stability for ≥1.5 years. 3D (1) H magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of 1 % hyperpolarized flowing gas with microscale spatial resolution (625×625×625 μm(3) ) and large imaging matrix (128×128×32) was demonstrated by using a preclinical 4.7 T scanner and 17.4 s imaging scan time.

Strongly hyperpolarized gas from parahydrogen by rational design of ligand-capped nanoparticles

The production of hyperpolarized fluids in continuous mode would broaden substantially the range of applications in chemistry, materials science, and biomedicine. Here we show that the rational design of a heterogeneous catalyst based on a judicious choice of metal type, nanoparticle size and surface decoration with appropriate ligands leads to highly efficient pairwise addition of dihydrogen across an unsaturated bond. This is demonstrated in a parahydrogen-induced polarization (PHIP) experiment by a 508-fold enhancement (±78) of a CH₃ proton signal and a corresponding 1219-fold enhancement (±187) of a CH₂ proton signal using nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR). In contrast, bulk metal catalyst does not show this effect due to randomization of reacting dihydrogen. Our approach results in the largest gas-phase NMR signal enhancement by PHIP known to date. Sensitivity-enhanced NMR with this technique could be used to image microfluidic reactions in-situ, to probe nonequilibrium thermodynamics or for the study of metabolic reactions.