The College of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley requests funds to acquire a CryoProbeTM Prodigy and related accessories for the 600 MHz Bruker Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectrometer located in the Department of Chemistry. The requested instrument will be integrated into the College of Chemistry NMR Core facility (CoC-NMR) to serve the current and future analytical needs of a large number of NIH-funded researchers. The goal of this proposal is to expand access to more advanced NMR instrumentation for experimental scientists at UC Berkeley and transform their ability to study chemistries and related biological activities. The requested instrument has superior sensitivity for NMR experiments, specifically for NMR of broad-band nuclei, compared to the best existing equipment available at the CoC-NMR. Many of our researchers work on health related problems that involve analytical determination of molecular identity, structure and reaction dynamics for the development of small molecule therapeutics, and design of chemical methods that facilitate new means to produce therapeutics effectively, or to synthesize them from existing natural compounds more cost effectively. For this purpose, experimental scientists utilize a wide range of NMR methods and they have an immediate and critical need, specifically for directly-observed X-nuclei, to perform routine NMR experimentation of low sensitivity broad-band nuclei for sample- and time-limited studies. Thus, superior sensitivity of the requested cryo-probe will allow researchers to utilize 13C NMR spectroscopy to routinely monitor their reactions to guide their experimental design, including multi-step reactions where samples for intermediate products are available only in small quantities of approximately 1-5 mg. Furthermore, the new instrument will allow the study of complex organometallic systems by their naturally occurring NMR- active nuclei, such as 31P, 15N, 29Si or 13C at meaningful concentration levels. This will be crucial for identification of active catalysts and catalyst decomposition products, and monitoring complexes in the catalyst reservoir, all of which are inherently at low concentrations. Moreover, researchers will be capable of monitoring reaction kinetics or equilibria, especially for slowly relaxing signals of broad-band nuclei, such as 31P or 29Si, at elevated temperatures, which is critical for determination of reaction activation barriers. The requested instrument will address the immediate and future needs of a broad community of NIH-supported research groups who are engaged in health driven molecular science. CryoProbeTM Prodigy will be operated, maintained and supported by the CoC-NMR and will fulfill important roles in the long-term biomedical research goals of the College of Chemistry, the facility users, and UC Berkeley.
This shared instrumentation proposal will fund an advanced cryo-probe for an existing Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) instrument. Expanding access to more advanced NMR instrumentation for experimental scientists at UC Berkeley can transform the understanding of studied chemistries and related biological activities. Formulating the relationship between the chemical structure of the active chemicals and biological function, enabled by the requested instrument, can lead to better understanding of disease biology and may yield new therapeutics that can have an enormous impact on human health problems.
