This article describes an elegant way to increase the throughput of a hyperpolarizer by storing the hyperpolarized materials separated from the polarizing agents.
Ji, X., et al., Transportable hyperpolarized metabolites. Nat Commun, 2017. 8: p. 13975.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28072398
Nuclear spin hyperpolarization of 13C-labelled metabolites by dissolution dynamic nuclear polarization can enhance the NMR signals of metabolites by several orders of magnitude, which has enabled in vivo metabolic imaging by MRI. However, because of the short lifetime of the hyperpolarized magnetization (typically <1 min), the polarization process must be carried out close to the point of use. Here we introduce a concept that markedly extends hyperpolarization lifetimes and enables the transportation of hyperpolarized metabolites. The hyperpolarized sample can thus be removed from the polarizer and stored or transported for use at remote MRI or NMR sites. We show that hyperpolarization in alanine and glycine survives 16 h storage and transport, maintaining overall polarization enhancements of up to three orders of magnitude.