Sensitive, Efficient and Portable Analysis of Molecular Exchange Processes by Hyperpolarized Ultrafast NMR

SCREENES: Enhancing non-uniform sampling reconstruction for symmetrical NMR spectroscopy

BACKGROUND

Symmetrical NMR spectroscopy, such as Total Correlation Spectroscopy (TOCSY) and other homonuclear spectroscopy, displays symmetry in chemical shift but are generally not symmetrical in terms of intensity, which constitutes a pivotal branch of multidimensional NMR spectroscopy and offers a robust tool for elucidating the structures and dynamics of complex samples, particularly in the context of biological macromolecules. Non-Uniform Sampling (NUS) stands as a critical technique for accelerating multidimensional NMR experiments. However, symmetrical NMR spectroscopy inherently presents dynamic peak intensities, where cross peaks tend to be substantially weaker compared to diagonal peaks. Recovering these weaker cross peaks from NUS data poses a significant challenge, often resulting in compromised data quality.

RESULTS

We enhance the reconstruction quality of NUS symmetrical NMR spectroscopy based on the assumption that the asymmetry in intensity is mild. Regarding the sampling schedule, we employ the symmetrical sampling structure integrated with Poisson sampling schedule to enhance the efficiency of data acquisition. In term of the reconstruction algorithm, we propose the new method by incorporating hard and soft symmetrical constraints into our recently developed L1-norm-based Compressed Sensing (CS) method known as Sparse Complex-valued REconstruction Enabled by Newton method (SCREEN). Additionally, we propose a two-step reconstruction strategy that separately addresses diagonal and cross peaks. In this two-step strategy, cross peaks are effectively reconstructed by excluding the stronger diagonal peaks. Extensive experimental results validate the effectiveness of our proposed methodology.

SIGNIFICANCE

This method enhances the overall quality of the reconstructed NUS symmetrical NMR spectra, especially in terms of cross peaks, thereby enriching the interpretation of spectral information. Furthermore, it boosts the robustness towards regularization parameters, facilitating a user-friendly experience.

Pure-Shift-Based Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy for High-Resolution Studies of Biological Samples

Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H MRS) presents a powerful tool for revealing molecular-level metabolite information, complementary to the anatomical insight delivered by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), thus playing a significant role in in vivo/in vitro biological studies. However, its further applications are generally confined by spectral congestion caused by numerous biological metabolites contained within the limited proton frequency range. Herein, we propose a pure-shift-based 1H localized MRS method as a proof of concept for high-resolution studies of biological samples. Benefitting from the spectral simplification from multiplets to singlet peaks, this method addresses the challenge of spectral congestion encountered in conventional MRS experiments and facilitates metabolite analysis from crowded NMR resonances. The performance of the proposed pure-shift 1H MRS method is demonstrated on different kinds of samples, including brain metabolite phantom and in vitro biological samples of intact pig brain tissue and grape tissue, using a 7.0 T animal MRI scanner. This proposed MRS method is readily implemented in common commercial NMR/MRI instruments because of its generally adopted pulse-sequence modules. Therefore, this study takes a meaningful step for MRS studies toward potential applications in metabolite analysis and disease diagnosis.

CAT on MOUSE: Control and automation of temperature for single-sided NMR instruments such as NMR-MOUSE

Temperature-dependent experiments are a rapidly growing area of interest for low-field NMR. In this work, we present a new device for wide-range temperature control for single-sided NMR instruments. The presented device, called CAT, is simple to build, inexpensive, and easy to modify to accommodate different samples. We present the capabilities of the device using a freezing temperature study of acetic acid/water mixtures. Additionally, we present the stability of the device over long measurement times. We believe that by introducing such a device with an open-source design, we allow researchers to use it in a wide range of applications and to fully incorporate variable-temperature studies in the world of single-sided instruments.

Accelerated Pure Shift NMR Spectroscopy with Deep Learning

Pure shift nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy presents a promising solution to provide sufficient spectral resolution and has been increasingly applied in various branches of chemistry, but the optimal resolution is generally accompanied by long experimental times. We present a proof of concept of deep learning for fast, high-quality, and reliable pure shift NMR reconstruction. The deep learning (DL) protocol allows one to eliminate undersampling artifacts, distinguish peaks with close chemical shifts, and reconstruct high-resolution pure shift NMR spectroscopy along with accelerated acquisition. More meaningfully, the lightweight neural network delivers satisfactory reconstruction performance on personal computers by several hundred simulated data learning, which somewhat lifts the prohibiting demand for a large volume of real training samples and advanced computing hardware generally required in DL projects. Additionally, an M-to-S strategy applicable to common DL cases is further exploited to boost the network generalization capability. As a result, this study takes a meaningful step toward deep learning protocols for broad chemical applications.

Missing Pieces in Structure Puzzles: How Hyperpolarized NMR Spectroscopy Can Complement Structural Biology and Biochemistry

Structure determination lies at the heart of many biochemical research programs. However, the "giants": X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, molecular dynamics simulations, and nuclear magnetic resonance, among others, leave quite a few dark spots on the structural pictures drawn of proteins, nucleic acids, membranes, and other biomacromolecules. For example, structural models under physiological conditions or of short-lived intermediates often remain out of reach of the established experimental methods. This account frames the possibility of including hyperpolarized, that is, dramatically signal-enhanced NMR in existing workflows to fill these spots with detailed depictions. We highlight how integrating methods based on dissolution dynamic nuclear polarization can provide valuable complementary information about formerly inaccessible conformational spaces for many systems. A particular focus will be on hyperpolarized buffers to facilitate the NMR structure determination of challenging systems.

Frémy’s Salt as a Low-Persistence Hyperpolarization Agent: Efficient Dynamic Nuclear Polarization Plus Rapid Radical Scavenging

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is a key technique for molecular structure determination in solution. However, due to its low sensitivity, many efforts have been made to improve signal strengths and reduce the required substrate amounts. In this regard, dissolution dynamic nuclear polarization (DDNP) is a versatile approach as signal enhancements of over 10 000-fold are achievable. Samples are signal-enhanced ex situ by transferring electronic polarization from radicals to nuclear spins before dissolving and shuttling the boosted sample to an NMR spectrometer for detection. However, the applicability of DDNP suffers from one major drawback, namely, paramagnetic relaxation enhancements (PREs) that critically reduce relaxation times due to the codissolved radicals. PREs are the primary source of polarization losses canceling the signal improvements obtained by DNP. We solve this problem by using potassium nitrosodisulfonate (Frémy’s salt) as polarization agent (PA), which provides high nuclear spin polarization and allows for rapid scavenging under mild reducing conditions. We demonstrate the potential of Frémy’s salt, (i) showing that both ¹H and ¹³C polarization of ∼30% can be achieved and (ii) describing a hybrid sample shuttling system (HySSS) that can be used with any DDNP/NMR combination to remove the PA before NMR detection. This gadget mixes the hyperpolarized solution with a radical scavenger and injects it into an NMR tube, providing, within a few seconds, quantitatively radical-free, highly polarized solutions. The cost efficiency and broad availability of Frémy’s salt might facilitate the use of DDNP in many fields of research.

Ultrafast transverse relaxation exchange NMR spectroscopy

Molecular exchange between different physical or chemical environments occurs due to either diffusion or chemical transformation. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy provides a means of understanding the molecular exchange in a noninvasive way and without tracers. Here, we introduce a novel two dimensional, single-scan ultrafast Laplace NMR (UF LNMR) method to monitor molecular exchange using transverse relaxation as a contrast. The UF T₂–T₂ relaxation exchange spectroscopy (REXSY) method shortens the experiment time by one to two orders of magnitude compared to its conventional counterpart. Contrary to the conventional EXSY, the exchanging sites are distinguished based on T₂ relaxation times instead of chemical shifts, making the method especially useful for systems including physical exchange of molecules. Therefore, the UF REXSY method offers an efficient means for quantification of exchange processes in various fields such as cellular metabolism and ion transport in electrolytes. As a proof of principle, we studied a halogen-free orthoborate based ionic liquid system and followed molecular exchange between molecular aggregates and free molecules. The results are in good agreement with the conventional exchange studies. Due to the single-scan nature, the method potentially significantly facilitates the use of modern hyperpolarization techniques to boost the sensitivity by several orders of magnitude.

An ultrafast two-dimensional NMR method allows quantification of molecular exchange rates efficiently based on T₂ relaxation contrast.

Sensitive, Efficient and Portable Analysis of Molecular Exchange Processes by Hyperpolarized Ultrafast NMR

Molecular exchange processes are ubiquitous in nature. Here, we introduce a method to analyze exchange processes by using low-cost, portable, single-sided NMR instruments. The inherent magnetic field inhomogeneity of the single-sided instruments is exploited to achieve diffusion contrast of exchange sites and spatial encoding of 2D data. This so-called ultrafast diffusion exchange spectroscopy method shortens the experiment time by two to four orders of magnitude. Furthermore, because full 2D data are measured in a single scan (in a fraction of a second), the sensitivity of the experiment can be improved by several orders of magnitude using so-called nuclear spin hyperpolarization methods (in this case, dissolution dynamic nuclear polarization). As the first demonstration of the feasibility of the method in various applications, we show that the method enables quantification of intra- and extracellular exchange of water in a yeast cell suspension.