The NMR facility is functionally operated as a single unit, but divided into four resources for easy management. The facility has been successful in procuring funds from federal agencies to upgrade the instrumentation. The recent acquisitions of 600-MHz solution and 500-MHz solid state NMR spectrometers have been financially supported by NIH and NSF respectively.
Resources
Low-field NMR resource
The low-field resource serves the routine one-dimensional NMR needs of our user community and includes four spectrometers.
The Avance-300 and DPX-300 are equipped with quadra nuclei probes (QNP) capable of running 1H, 13C, 31P, and 19F in a single stroke of a command. These instruments also include a backup Dual probe (DUL: 1H, 13C) to minimize downtime.
Fourier-300 is a modern, but simple spectrometer equipped with 1H- and 13C-only gradient probe; one of the main advantages of this instrument is its ability to perform automatic and reliable gradient shimming and gradient-enhanced two-dimensional experiments.
The DRX-400 is the only spectrometer which has 3 channels. It is also equipped with multiple probes, but a Broad-Band Observe (BBO) probe is commonly installed that is capable of data collection for nucleai ranging from 15N to 31P.
Though all the spectrometers are capable of performing variable temperature measurements, users are requested to utilize only DRX-400 for this purpose.
High-field NMR resource
The high-field resource houses 500- and 600-MHz spectrometers and are primarily utilized for NMR applications requiring higher sensitivity and resolution and for advanced experiments. The 500-MHz spectrometer is routinely used for small molecule structural elucidation projects in addition to frequent 13C NMR measurements. The 600-MHz instrument is installed with a 1.7mm microprobe as standard for routine investigation of mass-limited samples, but includes other probes (TBI, PABBO, and TXI) for biomolecular structure and dynamics applications.
Solid state NMR resource
The solid-state NMR resource assists the campus-wide research and educational users with a 500-MHz standardbore spectrometer. It includes three radio frequency channels and a portfolio of four probes: a) 4.0mm double-resonance CPMAS, spinning speeds up to 14kHz, b) 4.0mm gradient-capable HRMAS, spinning speeds up to 14kHz, c) 2.5mm double-resonance CPMAS, spinning speeds up to 30kHz and d) 2.5mm triple resonance CPMAS. The solid-state NMR instrument is capable of running both rountine nuclei including 1H, 13C, 31P, and 19F and a variety of "exotic" nuclei such as B, Al, Ga, Hg, Pb, Pt, Na, Li, Si, Se, Co, etc.
Instructional NMR resource
The instructional NMR resource fulfills primarily the needs of undergraduate chemistry laboratory courses with a 400-MHz spectrometer. The instrument is equipped with a gradient enhanced broad-band-fluorine observe (BBFO) probe and a robotic sample changer (BACS-120). Automatic probe tuning and matching and gradient shimming makes this spectrometer particularly valuable for training and educating young undergraduates. Many courses implement laboratory modules involving hands-on spectroscopy. The instrument holds a priority for instructional over research use during academic spring, summer, and fall semesters.