Carbon and proton Overhauser DNP from MD simulations and ab initio calculations: TEMPOL in acetone

A computational analysis of the Overhauser effect is reported for the proton, methyl carbon, and carbonyl carbon nuclei of liquid acetone doped with the nitroxide radical TEMPOL. A practical methodology for calculating the dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) coupling factors by accounting for both dipole-dipole and Fermi-contact interactions is presented. The contribution to the dipolar spectral density function of nuclear spins that are not too far from TEMPOL is computed through classical molecular dynamics ( MD) simulations, whereas the contribution of distant spins is included analytically. Fermi contacts are obtained by subjecting a few molecules from every MD snapshot to ab initio quantum mechanical calculations. Scalar interaction is found to be an essential part of the C-13 Overhauser DNP. While mostly detrimental to the carbonyl carbon of acetone it is predicted to result in large enhancements of the methyl carbon signal at magnetic fields of 9 T and beyond. In contrast, scalar coupling is shown to be negligible for the protons of acetone. The additional influence of proton polarization on the carbon DNP (three-spin effect) is also analyzed computationally. Its effect, however, is concluded to be practically insignificant for liquid acetone.