This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
With support from the Chemistry Research Instrumentation and Facilities:Multiuser program (CRIF:MU), the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Northern Illinois University (NIU) will upgrade and cyber-enhance a 500 MHz nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer. It will be employed in various research projects such as: a) producing new and novel compounds containing cages of carbon and/or boron combined with a wide range of metals; b) developing novel synthetic small molecules as chemical tools for the study of cellular and physiological processes on the molecular level; c) studying organic synthetic methodologies and organic reaction mechanisms focused primarily on the chemistry of highly electrophilic intermediates, some of which are known as superelectrophiles; and d) applying synthetic chemistry to biological problems related to protein posttranslational modifications, particularly protein tyrosine sulfation and protein tyrosine phosphorylation.
Multinuclear NMR spectroscopy is a powerful, essential tool in modern chemical research. NMR spectra enable researchers to study how molecules react and to identify reaction products and unstable reaction intermediates. Structural information, i.e., information on the connectivity of the atoms in molecules and materials is obtained from observing transitions between energy levels arising from the nuclear magnetic spin properties of atoms. The instruments will be used to support research projects of undergraduates and graduate students at NIU and train them in the use of state-of-the-art instrumentation. With NIU's partnerships and growing outreach to regional colleges (Rock Valley College, Waubonsee Community, Madison Area Technical College) the new equipment has the potential to impact a number of science and chemistry students beyond NIU.
