Spin Dynamics of Flavoproteins
Jörg Matysik, Luca Gerhards, Tobias Theiss, Lisa Timmermann, Patrick Kurle-Tucholski, Guzel Musabirova, Ruonan Qin, Frank Ortmann, Ilia A. Solov’yov, Tanja Gulder
Abstract
This short review reports the surprising phenomenon of nuclear hyperpolarization occurring in chemical reactions, which is called CIDNP (chemically induced dynamic nuclear polarization) or photo-CIDNP if the chemical reaction is light-driven. The phenomenon occurs in both liquid and solid-state, and electron transfer systems, often carrying flavins as electron acceptors, are involved. Here, we explain the physical and chemical properties of flavins, their occurrence in spin-correlated radical pairs (SCRP) and the possible involvement of flavin-carrying SCRPs in animal magneto-reception at earth's magnetic field.