Abstract. Sensitivity being one of the main hurdles of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) can be gained by polarization techniques including chemically induced dynamic nuclear polarization (CIDNP). Kaptein demonstrated that the basic mechanism of the CIDNP arises from spin sorting based on coherent electron–electron nuclear spin dynamics during the formation and the recombination of a radical pair in a magnetic field. In photo-CIDNP of interest here the radical pair is between a dye and the molecule to be polarized. Here, we explore continuous-wave (CW) photo-CIDNP (denoted CW-photo-CIDNP) with a set of 10 tryptophan and tyrosine analogues, many of them newly identified to be photo-CIDNP active, and we observe not only signal enhancement of 2 orders of magnitude for 1H at 600 MHz (corresponding to 10 000 times in measurement time) but also reveal that polarization enhancement correlates with the hydrophobicity of the molecules. Furthermore, the small chemical library established indicates the existence of many photo-CIDNP-active molecules.

The highly infectious disease COVID-19 caused by the Betacoronavirus SARS-CoV-2 poses a severe threat to humanity and demands the redirection of scientific efforts and criteria to organized research projects. The international COVID19-NMR consortium seeks to provide such new approaches by gathering scientific expertise worldwide. In particular, making available viral proteins and RNAs will pave the way to understanding the SARS-CoV-2 molecular components in detail. The research in COVID19-NMR and the resources provided through the consortium are fully disclosed to accelerate access and exploitation. NMR investigations of the viral molecular components are designated to provide the essential basis for further work, including macromolecular interaction studies and high-throughput drug screening. Here, we present the extensive catalog of a holistic SARS-CoV-2 protein preparation approach based on the consortium’s collective efforts. We provide protocols for the large-scale production of more than 80% of all SARS-CoV-2 proteins or essential parts of them. Several of the proteins were produced in more than one laboratory, demonstrating the high interoperability between NMR groups worldwide. For the majority of proteins, we can produce isotope-labeled samples of HSQC-grade. Together with several NMR chemical shift assignments made publicly available on covid19-nmr.com, we here provide highly valuable resources for the production of SARS-CoV-2 proteins in isotope-labeled form.

Photo-Chemically Induced Dynamic Nuclear Polarization (photo-CIDNP) is a promising solution to the inherent lack of sensitivity in NMR spectroscopy. It is particularly interesting in biological systems since it operates in...