This award from the Chemistry Research Instrumentation and Facilities (CRIF) Program and the Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program will enable the Department of Chemistry at Louisiana State University to upgrade the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) facilities, by increasing the technical capabilities of the instruments and by improving the efficiency of performing routine and more complex multi-dimensional experiments. These upgrades will facilitate research in a number of areas, including 1) natural products structure determination; 2) design and synthesis of peptide and nucleic acid analogs; 3) novel peptide and polymer architectures; 4) biomolecular NMR; 5) chemistry of organic curved surfaces; 6) organic materials chemistry; and molecular recognition and separation science. 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.
