Chapter Four - 1H NMR Spectroscopy and MR Imaging with Hyperpolarised Substances

Abstract

Abstract Despite their wide applicability in natural sciences, NMR and MRI still suffer from their inherently low sensitivity. This can be overcome by hyperpolarisation techniques, such as parahydrogen-induced polarisation and dynamic nuclear polarisation. Here, we focus on the generation of 1 H-hyperpolarised substances with both methods. We especially address the severe lifetime issue of the accomplished 1 H hyperpolarisation by demonstrating the production of hyperpolarised liquids in a continuous flow fashion and the storage of hyperpolarisation in slowly relaxing singlet states. Another problem of hyperpolarised proton NMR and MRI is the generation of contrast between a small amount of hyperpolarised molecules and a vast thermal background signal. In this contribution, we show the possibility to use the special signal pattern that is inherent to the hyperpolarisation method to generate excellent MRI contrast which may open up unprecedented opportunities to use the standard MRI nucleus 1 H, for example, biomedical applications in future.