With this award from the Major Research Instrumentation program (MRI), the Department of Chemistry at Illinois State University (ISU) will acquire a 400 MHz NMR spectrometer and an upgrade on the console of an existent 400 MHz NMR spectrometer. The NMR spectrometers will be utilized in research projects including 1) rare earth complexes, 2) cluster complexes, 3) porphyrin-derived macrocycles, 4) chiral auxiliaries, and 5) biochemical and mechanistic studies in physical, organic and biophysical chemistry. Two functioning NMR spectrometers will allow for research and training of a large number of students. Chemistry research opportunities will be available for a significant number of underrepresented undergraduates, community college students and high-school students.
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 chemistry and biochemistry.
