Quantitative quantum mechanical approach to SABRE hyperpolarization at high magnetic fields

Abstract

A theoretical approach is proposed for quantitative modeling of SABRE (Signal Amplification By Reversible Exchange) experiments performed at a high magnetic field of an NMR spectrometer. SABRE is a method, which exploits the spin order of parahydrogen (the H$_2$ molecule in its nuclear singlet state) for hyper-polarizing the spins of various substrates to enhance their NMR signals. An important feature of SABRE is that the substrate is not modified chemically: instead spin order transfer takes place in a transient complex with parahydrogen. In high-field SABRE experiments, such a transfer is achieved by using suitable NMR excitation schemes. The approach presented here can explicitly treat the spin dynamics in the SABRE complex as well as the kinetics of substrate exchange (between the free and bound form) and complex interplay of spin evolution and chemical processes. One more important effect included in the model is the alteration of the spin state of parahydrogen giving rise to the formation of anti-phase spin order from the initial singlet order. Such a treatment enables a detailed analysis of known high-field SABRE schemes, quantitative comparison with experiments and elucidation of the key factors that limit the resulting NMR signal enhancement.