Orientation selection in photosynthetic PS I multilayers: structural investigation of the charge separated state P(700)(+z.rad;)A(1)(-z.rad;) by high-field/high-frequency time-resolved EPR at 3.4 T/95 GHz

Dynamical Line-Shifts in High-Field Electron Spin Resonance: Applications to Polymer Physics

High-field high-frequency Electron Paramagnetic Resonance spectroscopy (HF 2 -EPR) is a powerful tool to investigate, with ultra-high angular resolution, the rotational dynamics of complex systems like polymers, viscous fluids and glasses. Usually, information is drawn by detailed numerical analysis of the overall lineshape. Here, we present a simplified analytical model of the line shifts due to the rotational dynamics of the paramagnetic centre. The model captures the basic features of the reorientation process (time scale and size of the angular jump). It is compared with experimental results concerning the reorientation of a paramagnetic guest molecule dissolved in polystyrene. We find that, if the rotational model to describe the reorientation of the radical is consistent, the best-fit parameters yield equally acceptable best-fits of the overall spectrum by numerical simulations and dynamical line shifts by independent analytic expressions.

Liquid state Dynamic Nuclear Polarization probe with Fabry-Perot resonator at 9.2 T

Recent achievements in liquid state DNP at high magnetic fields showing significant enhancements on aqueous solutions have initiated strong interest in possible applications of this method to biomolecular research. However, in situ DNP of biomolecules at ambient temperatures is a challenging task due to high microwave losses leading to excessive sample heating. To avoid such heating the sample volume has to be reduced strongly to keep it away from the electric component of the microwave field. A helical double resonance structure, used for the first demonstrations of the applicability of Overhauser DNP to aqueous solutions at high magnetic fields (9.2 T), restricted the sample size to a very small volume of 2 nl. Together with a poor spectral resolution this resulted in small overall signal amplitude, hampering observations of biomolecules. Here we present a new type of the double resonance structure for liquid-state DNP which consists of a Fabry-Perot resonator for the microwave excitation and a stripline resonator for the NMR detection. This new double resonance structure (260 GHz/400 MHz) offers a 30-fold increase in aqueous sample volume (80 nl) with respect to the helical probe and exhibits improved NMR sensitivity and linewidth.