Support is requested for the purchase of a 600 MHz NMR spectrometer to be housed in the Department of Chemistry at Oklahoma State University, for an upgrade of an on-site 400 MHz instrument, and for data stations to link students and researchers at institutions all over the State of Oklahoma to the NMR Facility. The key to statewide use of the facility is communication via the Oklahoma ONENET, a 45 Mb/sec Ethernet system that links Oklahoma State University (Stillwater), the Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (Oklahoma City), and the University of Oklahoma (Norman). The data stations at the research universities will be used for remote control of the 600 MHz spectrometer, off-line data analysis of multidimensional spectra from the 600 MHz instrument, and off-site instruction of research associates and graduate students in modern NMR spectroscopy. The Oklahoma ONENET has 1 Mb/sec service to link the NMR facility to data stations at 6 regional universities for the education of undergraduate science majors in modern NMR spectroscopy and for analysis of spectra from the 400 MHz instrument. A state-of-the-art 300 MHz NMR spectrometer dedicated to the study of solid state materials and installed at OSU in 1993 will also become part of the statewide NMR Facility. The centerpiece of the proposed Facility is a 600 MHz NMR spectrometer to be used by researchers at the Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (OHSC), University of Oklahoma (OU), and Oklahoma State University (OSU) for the study of glycopeptides, derivatives of ubiquinone bound to proteins, structures of paramagnetic proteins, microstructures of synthetic polymers, components of primary plant cell walls, and organic natural products from marine sources. For this research, high spectrometer frequency is needed to disperse spectral signals that overlap at lower frequencies. The proposed 3-channel 600 MHz spectrometer will be equipped with pulsed field gradient (PFG) and waveform generation capabilities required for state-of -the-art NMR experiments, and with probes ranging from a microprobe for study of submicromole amounts of natural materials to a 10 mm probe with an enhanced shim set for study of proteins of limited solubility. The 400 MHz NMR spectrometer at OSU, which was installed in 1988, will be upgraded to a 3-channel unit and have many of the same capabilities as the 600 MHz unit: pulsed field gradients, waveform generation, direct and indirect probes. It will be used for experiments that do not require the 600 MHz spectrometer and for preliminary experiments on certain samples that may later require the 600 MHz spectrometer. Policies of the Facility will be established by a statewide committee of users and administered by an OSU Faculty Director. Daily operation of the Facility will be the respmnsibility of the Facility Manager, a full time Ph.D. spectroscopist with responsibilities to assist and train users in the design, execution, and interpretation of experiments. An electronics technician dedicated full time to the Facility will maintain the equipment. Linkage of the Facility spectrometers at OSU to the research centers at OU and OHSC and to the regional universities in Oklahoma via the Oklahoma ONENET will provide both rapid communication between the NMR facility and off-site users and the mechanism for instruction of students at all levels by the Facility Manager and OSU faculty in modern NMR spectroscopy. OSU is a leader in providing instruction via telecommunication. Thus the project will both markedly enhance research capabilities for determination of structures of natural and synthetic macromolecules at three research universities, and expand education in modern NMR spectroscopy to more than 85% of the undergraduate students majoring in chemistry and biochemistry in Oklahoma. The office of the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education envisions the proposed Olclahoma Statewide Shared NMR Facility evolving into a distributive facility with major NMR inst ruments at various sites in Oklahoma all connected by Internet to scientists throughout the state.
