Dynamic nuclear polarisation method is said to provide over 100-fold increase in baseline sensitivity, opening up the field of practical NMR analysis to entirely new areas of research
With the potential to revolutionise the field of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, Oxford Instruments Molecular Biotools (OIMBL) presents HyperSense, described as a groundbreaking in vitro DNP polariser capable of amplifying the baseline sensitivity of NMR systems by a factor of up to 104.
This instrument will be the first commercial product of its kind and will enable researchers to achieve an unrivalled level of information quality and richness, while opening up the field of practical NMR analysis to entirely new areas of research, says the company.
Until now, the widespread adoption of NMR analysis for chemical structure confirmation and elucidation has been limited by NMR's comparably low sensitivity.
Although a number of hyperpolarisation and sensitivity improvement methods have been applied in an attempt to resolve this problem, actual sensitivity gains have been modest and often at a high cost compared to the increase in system performance.
HyperSense, in contrast, is a modular instrument that will attach to any conventional NMR system to deliver polarisation-enhanced samples using a solid-state dynamic nuclear polarisation (DNP) method, licensed from GE Healthcare.
Oxford Instruments is applying its expertise to introduce an automated instrument to deliver repeatable results for use with liquid state NMR.
The technology, which is embodied in HyperSense (which is complementary with other NMR enhancement methods), features a minimal footprint, single user operation and will be compatible with a variety of standard NMR solvents, probes and spectrometers, and feature a seamless automation system that facilitates NMR data acquisition with little manual intervention.
By providing the information richness of NMR and bringing the sensitivity of NMR much closer to that of some mass spectrometry techniques, HyperSense is directly applicable to 1D applications in NMR.
Initial applications will include structure confirmation and elucidation of small molecular structures of drug candidate libraries, as well as conformational and metabolomic studies.
OIMBL anticipates that any laboratory wanting to look at 13C and 15N in their natural abundance will be interested in this novel instrument, as it avoids time-consuming and labour-intensive enrichment processes that were previously requisite.
Frank Trundle, business director of OIMBL, commented on the introduction of the new system saying: "HyperSense will be the first commercial system of its kind and one of the most exciting technologies ever to be introduced to the field of NMR.
"It will enable users to surpass previous experimental barriers and increase the applicability of NMR spectroscopy with an approach that is unique from all other enhancement methods.
"HyperSense is also remarkably easy to use and site.
"Those researchers and manufacturers with existing NMR facilities will be very excited to see the truly enhanced level of results quality they can achieve with it.
"For example, OIMBL is currently working with leading NMR groups to develop applications in ligand screening, metabolomics, and analysis of complex biomixtures.
"Other application areas in could include ADME studies, impurity identification, real-time kinetic reaction measurements, and drug library screening."
