Can label or protein deuteration extend the phase relaxation time of Gd(III) spin labels?

ABSTRACT: Pulse-dipolar electron paramagnetic resonance (PD-EPR) has emerged as an effective tool in structural biology, enabling distance measurements between spin labels attached to biomolecules. The sensitivity and accessible distance range of these measurements are governed by the phase memory time ( Tm ) of the spin labels. Understanding the decoherence mechanisms affecting Tm is crucial for optimizing sample preparation and spin-label design. This study investigates the phase relaxation behavior of two Gd(III) spin-label complexes, Gd-PyMTA and Gd-TPMTA, with various degrees of deuteration. These two complexes have significantly different zero-field-splitting (ZFS) parameters. Hahn echo decay and dynamical decoupling (DD) measurements were performed at W-band (95 GHz) in deuterated solvents (D

SUBMITTER: Edinach E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12753153 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature