With support from the Chemistry Research Instrumentation and Facilities: Multiuser program (CRIF:MU), the Department of Chemistry at the University of Arizona will acquire a cyber enabled 400 MHz nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer. The spectrometer will be used to characterize synthetic intermediates and final products for a wide variety of projects, including: transition metal cluster-supported supramolecules and materials; magnetic nanoparticles with functional polymer coatings; liquid crystalline naphthalocyanines with dendritic side-chains for organic photovoltaics; amphipathic helical glycopeptides that complex with membranes and micelles; probes of sulfur radical cation chemistry and catalysts for hydrogen production.
Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is one of the tools widely used by chemists to analyze mixtures of species dissolved in solution. It is used to identify unknown substances. It provides information on the arrangement and connectivity of atoms in molecules and materials i.e. their structures by detecting transitions between energy levels arising from the nuclear spin properties of atoms. This spectrometer will enhance many Arizona programs that promote teaching and learning of undergraduates and graduate students. The instrument will be used by 14 research groups in the Department of Chemistry, the undergraduate teaching program, 9 groups in other campus departments, two community colleges in Arizona and a research institute and a university in Sonora, Mexico. Remote access and operation (cyber-enabling) will be a feature of the instrument to enhance usage and productivity.
