This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
With this award from the Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program Professor LeRoy Jones II and colleagues Elmer J. Gentry, Asare Nkansah, Melany P. Puglisi-Weening and Felix M. Rivas from the Departments of Chemistry and Physics at Chicago State University will acquire a 400 MHz NMR spectrometer with variable temperature capabilities. The instrument will be used to support research activities such as: 1) preparation of chiral transition metal catalysts for olefin metathesis reactions; 2) development of dendrimers and polymers for drug delivery; 3) synthesis of antibacterial peptides; 4) synthetic modification of antimicrobial compounds for altered spectrum and potency; 5) antimicrobial chemical defenses of marine plants and algae; and 6) isolation and characterization of the CNS-active constituents of nutmeg.
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is one of the most powerful tools available to chemists for the elucidation of the structure of molecules. It is used to identify unknown substances, to characterize specific arrangements of atoms within molecules, and to study the dynamics of interactions between molecules in solution. Access to state-of-the-art NMR spectrometers is essential to chemists who are carrying out frontier research. The results from these NMR studies will have an impact in synthetic organic/inorganic chemistry, materials chemistry and biochemistry. This instrument will be an integral part of teaching as well as research.
Chicago State University (CSU) is the major minority serving comprehensive university in the Chicago metropolitan area. Training students in STEM fields is a core CSU mission, and having state of the art equipment is fundamental to our goal. Having been a traditional teaching school, CSU is striving to increase its research capacity to better train young underrepresented minority (URM) researchers in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. In accordance with our mission, the Departments of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences (DCPS) at CSU was granted funding from the Major Research Instrumentation Program at the National Science Foundation for a 400 MHz nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer. The instrument is used for the characterization of organic, bioorganic, organometallic and polymeric species generated by faculty research programs staffed with undergraduate students and by students working in teaching laboratory settings. The capabilities associated with the spectrometer has expanded our capacity for discovery and supported the activities of research-active students and faculty at CSU. The research grade NMR spectrometer granted much needed high resolution and advanced structural analysis capability to the DCPS researchers, and presented exciting new opportunities for our faculty and students to apply modern spectroscopic methods to chemical research. It is also important to note that the new spectrometer was integrated throughout the chemistry and pharmaceutical sciences curriculum to provide our students with expertise in NMR techniques, methods and analysis. All of which are vital to be successful in graduate school and/or the chemical workforce. In summary, acquisition of a new 400 MHz NMR (i) enhanced the research capability of CSU, a minority serving institution, in organic, bioorganic, organometallic and polymer structural analysis, (ii) prepared URM STEM students for advance research activities in graduate school and/or the chemical workforce, and (iii) provided access for faculty and students from two of the City Colleges of Chicago - Olive-Harvey College and Kennedy-King College - and Governors State University who need high field NMR for research and teaching.
