With this award from the Chemistry Research Instrumentation and Facilities: Departmental Multi-User Instrumentation program (CRIF:MU), Professor Jacob W. Petrich and colleagues from the Department of Chemistry at Iowa State University will upgrade a 400 MHz NMR spectrometer. The upgraded instrument will enable rapid 2D measurements with pulse field gradients and reliable 1D with increased sensitivity, and will have variable temperature capabilities. The instrument will be used to support research activities such: 1) preparation of organometallic compounds that contain a range of heteroatoms including boron, phosphorus, nitrogen, fluorine, and silicon; 2) synthetic methodologies and applications in combinatorial chemistry; 3) elucidation of the roles of structurally directed electron induction and transannulation in polycyclic Lewis base and acid catalysis; 4) environmentally responsive materials, sensors and catalysis; 5) green catalysis; and 6) custom carbohydrate synthesis.
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 a positive impact in synthetic organic/inorganic chemistry, materials, the environment and biochemistry. This instrument will be an integral part of teaching as well as research.
In 2010, the Iowa State University Chemical Instrumentation Facility purchased and installed a 400MR nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer from Varian (now Agilent), Inc., using funds from the NSF-CHE (CRIF:MU) Program and the Iowa State Department of Chemistry. The instrument was the first to be installed in the new Chemical Instrumentation Facility space located in the recently completed Hach Hall. Researchers in chemistry, catalysis, food science, biorenewables, structural biology and pharmaceuticals rely on NMR to characterize new materials and study molecular structure and interactions. NMR is one of the most useful techniques available to researchers for determining molecular structure. This technique allows scientists to observe the atomic and molecular interactions of atomic nuclei including carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, silicon, boron, phosphorous, fluorine and others. The purchase of the 400MR brought the first new dedicated solution NMR instrument in the ISU Department of Chemistry in over fifteen years. The 400MR has quickly become an indispensible tool for chemistry and materials researchers at Iowa State thanks to major advances in instrument hardware and software over the last two decades. The advanced features of the 400MR include a variety of automation capabilities that allow for ease of use and a reduction in required staff assistance. Additional features such as an autotuning probe allow for users to easily acquire a series of spectra involving different nuclei without directly interacting with instrument hardware. The automation features are included in both the software and hardware, and the ease of use makes the instrument accessible students with less experience with scientific equipment, such as undergraduates and summer researchers. The modern hardware available on the 400MR produced spectra with significantly higher sensitivity and resolution than other instruments available in the Chemical Instrumentation Facility, reducing the required experiment time for spectral acquisition and allowing for a higher volume of users to acquire data in a shorter period of time. Since completion of the installation of the 400MR, over 160 students and scientists from 25 research groups spanning six departments and units at Iowa State, Ames Laboratory and three small companies in the Ames, IA area have used the 400MR. This broad base of researchers has logged over 17,000 instrument uses, acquiring over 34,000 NMR spectra in the process. Using data collected on the 400MR, researchers have submitted titles of over 25 conference presentations, 47 publications and 1 patent application. High-level instrumentation has also fueled additional technology, outreach and education programs sponsored by the Chemical Instrumentation Facility. Since 2010, the CIF has developed an online data server where users can access their data remotely from any computer on or off-campus. This makes the facility particularly attractive to outside users or researchers in other campus departments. Additionally, the CIF has sponsored training seminars intended for undergraduate and first and second year graduate students to obtain familiarity with the advanced options that are available on the 400MR. Significant contributions in the fields of catalysis, carbohydrate chemistry, biorenewables, and polymer synthesis have been made thanks to the advanced capabilities that the 400MR provides to researchers that use the Chemical Instrumentation Facility. More specifically, the 400MR has been used to study carbohydrates that are involved in molecular recognition, polymers for use in transistors, LED’s and biosensors, biorenewable sources for commodity chemicals and plastics, organometallic catalysts, drug delivery, and in the characterization of nanoparticles. The availability of advanced instrumentation in the Chemical Instrumentation Facility continues to attract excellent students, faculty and outside industrial users to the facility.
