Direct Production of a Hyperpolarized Metabolite on a Microfluidic Chip
Sylwia J. Barker, Laurynas Dagys, William Hale, Barbara Ripka, James Eills, Manvendra Sharma, Malcolm H. Levitt, Marcel Utz
Abstract
C]fumarate is produced in a nuclear hyperpolarized form by (i) introducing para-enriched hydrogen into the solution by diffusion through a polymer membrane, (ii) reaction with a substrate in the presence of a ruthenium-based catalyst, and (iii) conversion of the singlet-polarized reaction product into a magnetized form by the application of a radiofrequency pulse sequence, all on the same microfluidic chip. The microfluidic device delivers a continuous flow of hyperpolarized material at the 2.5 μL/min scale, with a polarization level of 4%. We demonstrate two methods for mitigating singlet-triplet mixing effects which otherwise reduce the achieved polarization level.