International Collaboration in Chemistry: Collaborative Research: Development of Novel Catalysts and Approaches for Parahydrogen-Induced Enhancement of Magnetic Resonance

凭借该奖项，化学测量和成像计划正在支持由俄罗斯研究小组组成的合作团队（由ITC新西伯利亚的Igor Koptyug领导）和美国（由位于卡本代尔的南伊利诺伊大学的博伊德·古德森和范德比尔特大学的爱德华·切克梅涅夫领导）进行研究，以提高核磁共振的能力，即核磁共振，这是磁共振成像（MRI）背后的关键技术，现代医学中广泛使用的诊断工具。研究人员正在探索一种可能的修改，可以将这种技术的灵敏度提高许多数量级，从而改善MRI，同时也有助于改善其他类型系统的可视化技术。该研究正在探索使用一种特殊形式的氢，称为仲氢，已被证明可以增强NMR信号。这项工作将各种技术用于理解这种特殊形式的氢是如何工作的，以便开发更准确和灵敏的成像方法。这项工作对开发新的科学仪器产生了广泛的影响，这些仪器将在从医学到化学制造的各种领域中得到应用。它正在产生更广泛的影响，使科学家跨越国界，共同研究全球共同关心的问题。该项目通过为各级学生提供参加高度跨学科、多地点培训环境的机会，为培训下一代科学家作出贡献。具体而言，美国研究中心的学生可以访问位于亚洲最重要的研究中心之一新西伯利亚的国际合作者研究中心，并开展研究项目。总体目标是开发新的催化材料和方法，从而大大提高仲氢诱导极化（PHIP）技术的适用性。低检测灵敏度仍然是许多常规方法如NMR和MRI的致命弱点。然而，仲氢（pH 2）的纯反相自旋顺序可以被利用来实现某些类型的分子中的高度非平衡核自旋布居分布（“极化”），从而使得能够将NMR/MRI检测灵敏度提高几个数量级。更具体地，这些努力涉及以下的合成、评价和NMR证明：1）用于传统PHIP的新的多相催化剂（其涉及用pH 2氢化不饱和部分）;和2）用于SABRE的新的均相和多相催化剂（通过可逆交换的信号放大-其中自旋序从pH 2转移到分子而不需要不可逆的化学变化的技术）。还在研究利用现场高场SABRE的新方法。此外，这些实验的支持与原位MR检测和自动生成pH 2的自动便携式HET-PHIP/SABRE偏振器的建设。这些研究工作奋进于为关键的PHIP方法提供更深入的了解，同时努力显着提高其实用性。

With this award, the Chemical Measurement and Imaging Program is supporting a collaborative team comprised of research groups in Russia (led by Igor Koptyug of ITC Novosibirsk) and the US (led by Boyd Goodson of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and Eduard Chekmenev of Vanderbilt University) for research to improve the capabilities of nuclear magnetic resonance, or NMR, the key technology behind magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a widely used diagnostic tool in modern medicine. The investigators are exploring a possible modification that could enhance the sensitivity of this technique by many orders of magnitude, thus improving MRI while also contributing to the improvement of technologies for visualizing other types of systems. The research is exploring the use of a special form of hydrogen known as parahydrogen that has been shown to enhance an NMR signal. The work is bringing a variety of techniques to bear on the task of understanding how this special form of hydrogen works in order to develop more accurate and sensitive imaging methods. The work is having a broad impact on the development of new scientific instruments that will find applications in a wide variety of fields from medicine to chemical manufacturing. It is having a further broad impact by bringing scientists together across borders to work on problems of mutual global interest. This project is contributing to the training of the next generation of scientists by providing opportunities for students at all levels to participate in a highly interdisciplinary, multi-site training environment. Specifically, students at the US sites are able to visit and carry out research projects at the international collaborator's site in Novosibirsk, one of Asia's most important research hubs.The overall objective is to develop new catalytic materials and approaches that can dramatically improve the applicability of parahydrogen induced polarization (PHIP) techniques. Low detection sensitivity remains an Achilles Heel of many conventional methods such as NMR and MRI. However, the pure anti-phase spin order of parahydrogen (pH2) can be exploited to achieve highly non-equilibrium nuclear spin population distributions ("polarizations") in certain types of molecules, thereby enabling the enhancement of NMR/MRI detection sensitivity by orders of magnitude. More specifically, these efforts concern the synthesis, evaluation, and NMR demonstration of: 1) new heterogeneous catalysts for traditional PHIP (which involves the hydrogenation of unsaturated moieties with pH2); and 2) new homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts for SABRE (signal amplification by reversible exchange - a technique where spin order is transferred from pH2 to molecules without requiring irreversible chemical change). New approaches exploiting in situ high-field SABRE are also under study. Additionally, these experiments are supported by the construction of an automated portable HET-PHIP/SABRE polarizer with in situ MR detection and automated pH2 generation. These research efforts endeavor to provide greater insight into current limitations for key PHIP approaches, while working to dramatically improve their utility.