title: Billion-fold enhancement in sensitivity of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy for magnesium ions in solution.
abstract: β-nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is highly sensitive compared to conventional NMR spectroscopy, and may be applied for several elements across the periodic table. β-NMR has previously been successfully applied in the fields of nuclear and solid-state physics. In this work, β-NMR is applied, for the first time, to record an NMR spectrum for a species in solution. (31)Mg β-NMR spectra are measured for as few as 10(7) magnesium ions in ionic liquid (EMIM-Ac) within minutes, as a prototypical test case. Resonances are observed at 3882.9 and 3887.2 kHz in an external field of 0.3 T. The key achievement of the current work is to demonstrate that β-NMR is applicable for the analysis of species in solution, and thus represents a novel spectroscopic technique for use in general chemistry and potentially in biochemistry.
authors.affiliation: CERN, 1211 Genève 23 (Switzerland).
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gottberg
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stachura
authors.forename: Magdalena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kowalska
authors.forename: Mark L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Bissell
authors.forename: Vaida
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Arcisauskaite
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Blaum
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Helmke
authors.forename: Karl
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Johnston
authors.forename: Kim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kreim
authors.forename: Flemming H
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Larsen
authors.forename: Rainer
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Neugart
authors.forename: Gerda
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Neyens
authors.forename: Ronald F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Garcia Ruiz
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Szunyogh
authors.forename: Peter W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Thulstrup
authors.forename: Deyan T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Yordanov
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hemmingsen
mesh_terms: D052578:Ionic Liquids / Q000737:chemistry; D008274:Magnesium / Q000032:analysis*; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy / Q000379:methods*; D011868:Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis; D012996:Solutions
chemical_list: D052578:Ionic Liquids; D011868:Radioisotopes; D012996:Solutions; D008274:Magnesium
keywords: NMR spectroscopy; magnesium; radionuclides; ultrasensitivity; β-NMR