This award from the Chemistry Research Instrumentation and Facilities Program will assist the Department of Chemistry at Colorado State University to acquire two state-of-the-art NMR consoles to upgrade existing 300 MHz NMR Spectrometers and retrofit the AC consoles to upgrade the IBM WP-270 MHz NMR. This equipment will enhance research in a number of areas including the following: (1) metallobiochemistry of co-enzyme B12-dependent ribonucleotide reductase, (2) development of methodology for synthesis of modified oligonucleotides, (3) synthesis of unnatural nucleoside analogs based on cyclobutenone chemistry, (4) formamidines and other chiral carbanions, (5) synthesis and application of highly fluorinated weakly coordinating anions, (6) quinocarcin mechanism of DNA cleavage and (7) bioorganic and bioinorganic chemistry of vanadium and phosphorous. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is the most powerful tool available to chemists for the elucidation of the structure of molecules. It is used to identify unknown substances, 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 spectrometry is essential to chemists who are carrying out frontier research. The results from these NMR studies are useful in the areas such as polymers, catalysis, and in biology.
