The UK Dynamic Nuclear Polarisation Magic Angle Spinning NMR Facility

固体核磁共振（NMR）光谱是理解生物、化学、物理和材料科学中原子尺度水平结构和动力学的关键技术。然而，尽管其独特的多功能性和高化学环境的信息内容，NMR遭受低灵敏度，由于弱的核极化，并需要长的实验时间，特别是对于稀释的物种，如那些在低浓度或固有不敏感的小磁矩。动态核极化（DNP）是一种新兴技术，其可以将NMR信号强度增强多达三个数量级，并且涉及从自由基或金属离子（植入或固有地存在于样品中）中的未成对电子的大得多的极化到附近的核的极化转移，随后进行NMR检测。自2008年以来，用于DNP魔角旋转（MAS）NMR的商用光谱仪的出现将研究工作从最初的仪器开发转向更多的应用驱动型研究。成功的途径在很大程度上依赖于通过实现最佳样品配方来获得高信号增强，所述最佳样品配方涉及适当选择未成对电子和合适的基质以将它们嵌入感兴趣的样品中。许多开创性的应用已经出现，证明了这种新型光谱方法的独特潜力，可用于解决各种不同的研究挑战，从储能材料，催化，药物输送到生物分子，具有未来更广泛应用的巨大潜力。DNP MAS NMR的重要性在EPSRC委托并于2013年发布的英国NMR景观审查中得到了认可，该审查是NMR路线图（并于2017年更新），强调迫切需要对该技术进行重大资本投资。主要建议是立即在英国提供第一个商业DNP MAS NMR系统，这导致诺丁汉DNP MAS NMR设施运行14.1 T仪器的资金（EP/L0222524/1），并在中期内在英国各地至少增加两个系统，这引发了曼彻斯特大学与利物浦大学合作于2020年向EPSRC战略设备流程提交9.4 T系统的商业案例。NMR路线图的建议最近得到了剑桥大学于2019年提交的社区需求声明的证实，该声明代表了诺丁汉设施的外部用户组，该设施由EPSRC国家研究设施小组优先考虑。为了响应这些长达十年的活动，EPSRC邀请社区向战略设备流程提交一份完整的提案，以提供DNP MAS NMR光谱服务于英国科学界。在这里，我们建议建立一个分布式的DNP MAS NMR设施位于三个主机机构，通过结合14.1 T诺丁汉DNP MAS NMR设施的全部操作与剑桥大学的9.4 T系统的一部分实验时间和曼彻斯特大学的一个新的9.4 T仪器，增加了快速MAS的额外能力，将为英国社区提供常规的仪器和世界一流的专业知识。我们将通过能够使EPSRC繁荣成果受益，影响研究主题并涵盖许多研究领域，来实现DNP MAS NMR的这一重大变革性投资。这个分布式设施的成功和可持续性的关键是两个设施管理人员的支持与运营成本的资金，再加上一个管理结构，具有单一入口点的应用程序，强大的社区支持和广泛的传播和推广战略，使（DNP）NMR专家与更广泛的英国研究社区。

Solid-state Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is a key technique for understanding atomic-scale level structures and dynamics in the biological, chemical, physical and material sciences. However, despite its unique versatility and high chemical environments information content, NMR suffers from low sensitivity, due to the weak nuclear polarisation, and requires long experiment times, especially for dilute species such as those in low concentrations or intrinsically insensitive with small magnetic moments. Dynamic Nuclear Polarisation (DNP) is an emerging technology that can enhance the NMR signal intensities by up to three orders of magnitude and involves polarisation transfer from the much larger polarisation of unpaired electrons in radicals or metal ions, either implanted or inherently present in the samples, to the nearby nuclei followed by NMR detection. The advent of commercial spectrometers for DNP Magic Angle Spinning (MAS) NMR since 2008 has redirected research efforts away from the initial instrumentation development to more application-driven research. The pathway to success relies heavily on obtaining high signal enhancements by achieving optimal sample formulation which involves an appropriate choice of the unpaired electrons and of a suitable matrix to embed them in the sample of interest. Many pioneering applications have since emerged, demonstrating the unique potential of this novel spectroscopy method for addressing a wide variety of different research challenges ranging from energy storage materials, catalysis, drug delivery to biological molecules with tremendous potential for wider utilisation in the future. The importance of DNP MAS NMR has been recognised in a review of the UK NMR landscape commissioned and published by the EPSRC as an NMR roadmap in 2013 (and updated in 2017) that stressed the urgent need for significant capital investment in this technology. Key recommendations were the immediate provision of the first commercial DNP MAS NMR system in the UK, that led to the funding of the Nottingham DNP MAS NMR Facility operating a 14.1 T instrument (EP/L0222524/1) in 2015, and at least two additional systems across the UK in the medium term, that triggered the submission of a business case to the EPSRC Strategic Equipment Process for a 9.4 T system by the University of Manchester in partnership with the University of Liverpool in 2020. The recommendations of the NMR roadmap were recently corroborated by a Statement of Community Need submitted in 2019 by the University of Cambridge, representing the external user group of the Nottingham Facility, which was prioritised by the EPSRC National Research Facility panel. In response to these decade-long activities, EPSRC invited the community to submit a full proposal to the Strategic Equipment Process for the provision of DNP MAS NMR spectroscopy to serve the UK science community. Here, we propose to establish a distributed DNP MAS NMR Facility located over the three host institutions by combining the full operation of the 14.1 T Nottingham DNP MAS NMR Facility with a fraction of experimental time of the 9.4 T system at the University of Cambridge and a new 9.4 T instrument at the University of Manchester, augmented by additional capabilities for fast MAS, that, taken together, will provide the UK community with both regular access to instrumentation and world-class expertise. We will deliver on this major transformative investment in DNP MAS NMR by being able to benefit EPSRC Prosperity Outcomes, impact Research Themes and cover many Research Areas. Critical to the success and sustainability of this distributed Facility is the support of two Facility Managers with funding for operating costs coupled to one management structure with a single-entry point application procedure, strong community support and wide dissemination and outreach strategies engaging (DNP) NMR experts with the broader UK research communities.