  Spin polarization in chiral molecules is a magnetic molecular response
associated with electron transport and enantioselective bond polarization that
occurs even in the absence of an external magnetic field. An unexpected finding
by Santos and co-workers reported enantiospecific NMR responses in solid-state
cross-polarization (CP) experiments, suggesting a possible additional
contribution to the indirect nuclear spin-spin coupling in chiral molecules
induced by bond polarization in the presence of spin-orbit coupling. Herein we
provide a theoretical treatment for this phenomenon, presenting an effective
spin-Hamiltonian for helical molecules like DNA and density functional theory
(DFT) results on amino acids that confirm the dependence of J-couplings on the
choice of enantiomer. The connection between nuclear spin dynamics and
chirality could offer insights for molecular sensing and quantum information
sciences. These results establish NMR as a potential tool for chiral
discrimination without external agents.
