Gadolinium based endohedral metallofullerene Gd2@C79N as a relaxation boosting agent for dissolution DNP at high fields

Abstract

We show increased dynamic nuclear polarization by adding a low dosage of a S = 15/2 Gd based endohedral metallofullerene (EMF) to DNP samples. By adding 60 μM Gd₂@C₇₉N, the nuclear polarization of ¹H and ¹³C spins from 40 mM 4-oxo-TEMPO increases by approximately 40% and 50%, respectively, at 5 T and 1.2 K. Electron–electron double resonance (ELDOR) measurements show that the high spin EMF shortens the electron relaxation times and increases electron spectral diffusion leading to the increased DNP enhancement.