Chemical shift powder spectra enhanced by multiple-contact cross-polarization under slow magic-angle spinning

Abstract

A simple multiple-contact cross-polarization (CP) scheme is applied to a powder sample of ferrocene and β-calcium formate under static and magic-angle spinning (MAS) conditions. The method is described analytically through the density matrix formalism. We show that multiple equilibrations–re-equilibrations with the proton spin bath improves the polarization transfer efficiency at short contact times and provides higher signal enhancements than state-of-the art techniques such as adiabatic passage through the Hartmann–Hahn condition CP (APHH-CP) when MAS is applied. The resulting chemical shift powder spectra then are identical to the ones obtained by using ROtor-Directed Exchange of Orientations CP (APHH-RODEO-CP) with intensity gains of a factor 1.1–1.3.