The University of Iowa Central NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) Facility serves more than 25 research groups and over 100 graduate and undergraduate students and post-doctoral associates of many university departments from the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Carver College of Medicine, College of Pharmacy, and College of Engineering.
The NMR facility houses spectrometers with proton observation frequencies ranging from 300MHz to 600MHz including solid state NMR equipment. These instruments are capable of performing most of the state-of-the-art NMR experiments for small molecules as well as for bio-molecular research. Variable temperature and multinuclear capabilities are standard in all the instruments.
Our recent acquisitions include a 600-MHz solution and 500-MHz solids NMR spectrometers. The 600-MHz instrument includes a 1.7mm microprobe for collecting data on mass-limited samples requiring high sensitivity. The solids NMR spectromter has been installed with many modern probes capable of spinning the samples up to 35kHz.
The NMR facility is financially supported by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Office of the Vice President for Research, and user-fee revenues. It is administratively supervised by the UI Department of Chemistry.
The NMR facility has a long-standing history of serving local enterprises. Our current clients include Tjaden Biosciences (Burlington, Iowa), Kemin Human Nutrition and Heath (Des Moines, Iowa), Procter and Gamble (Iowa City, Iowa) and Tansna Pharmaceuticals (Iowa City, Iowa). The NMR facility also assists the small startup companies that are part of the UI bioventure program by providing training, access to instrumentation and expertise.
User resources
The UI Central NMR facility provides various services to the university-wide research and educational community as well as local commercial enterprises. The user resources are included to improve the efficiency of various services provided by the NMR Facility.
- Routine one-dimensional–AV300 and DPX300 (1H, 13C, and training package), DRX400 (1H and 13C), AViii400 (1H, 13C, and macros), Fr-300 (1H and 13C), AViii500-solution (step-by-step and macros), AViii600
- Two-dimensional–AViii600, AViii500
- Diffusion coefficients, DOSY–AViii400
- Homonuclear decoupling–DRX400
- Homonuclear decoupling–DRX400
- Nonroutine nuclei–DRX400
- 4mm - MAS, CPMAS–AViii500 Solids
- HRMAS–1H, 13C, Two-dimensional–AViii500 Solids
- Bruker NMR
Mission
Develop the facility into one of the premier state-of-the-art facilities for research and education
Policies
Instrument usage
Policies are set up to make sure that: a) on-campus researchers are treated equally and fairly in terms of access, time allocation, and usage fee, b) that the instrument usage is maximized without affecting revenue streams negatively, c) minimize any strain between research groups at times of high usage, d) minimize long down-times due to instrument misuse and repairs, and e) users are considerate to one another in using equipment.
User fee
The users pay a fee to utilize the instrumentation of the NMR facility and the rate depends upon various factors including the operating magnetic field. We also use a dual time fee structure to promote use during off-office hours. The primary reason for charging a user fee is to recover at least a partially the cost of running the facility. Although no standard exists in setting a fee, our rates are one of the lowest among comparable Universities.
Acknowledgment
The NMR facility, the staff members, institutional support and federal grant agencies must be duly acknowledged in manuscripts, conference proceedings, thesis dissertations and lectures. the staff members must also be given co-authorship in manuscripts, wherever it is appropriate as determined by the lead author.
NMR staff
George Crull
Evan Schroeder
