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Microscale devices for in situ magnetic resonance enhanced by parahydrogen induced hyperpolarization - µDIMREPHiP

Subject Area Microsystems
Term from 2019 to 2024
Project identifier Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 426191032
 
Final Report Year 2024

Final Report Abstract

The ability to monitor a chemical process with molecular specificity is appealing across many disciplines where details of transport, chemical conversion, and reaction kinetics are desired. Revealing these details in biological systems is important in the context of determining the development of dysfunctional phenotypes and their response to external stress, while in technical systems knowing these details enables better understanding of reaction progress and homogeneity within chemical reactors. The challenge is in choosing an appropriate analytical technique satisfying the following requirements: non-invasive, non-destructive, broad chemical and physical coverage, high-sensitivity and selectivity. Magnetic resonance (MR) is a technique that addresses three of the four requirements. Sensitivity and selectivity are the primary challenges facing MR; however, by using signal enhancement strategies this can be overcome. The uDIMREPHIP team aimed to develop MR systems capable of revealing the details of chemical processes by simultaneously satisfying the four desired analytical features, choosing the para-hydrogen based MR signal enhancement strategy to tackle the sensitivity challenge. The project had three research objectives (RO): RO-1 was to create a miniaturized gas-liquid contactor with integrated NMR functionality; RO-2 was hyperpolarized substrate delivery to non-trivial samples with minimal transport time; and RO-3 was demonstration of the information gained by hyperpolarized NMR in non-trivial samples. The research objectives were achieved, with novel gas-liquid contactors developed featuring high experimental reproducibility, para-hydrogen hyperpolarization experiments under automation to enhance sample transport time, and bio-compatible para-hydrogen measurement conditions identified for the case of E. coli. The uDIMREPHIP team are confident that the results of this project form a strong basis for future work further pushing the limits of small molecule analytics in the case of challenging measurement conditions.

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