With this award from the Major Research Instrumentation Program, Professor Michael Schramm from California State University Long Beach and colleagues Lijuan Li, Young-Seok Shon, Stephen Mezyk and Paul Buonora will acquire a 400 MHz NMR spectrometer with SmartProbe and autosampler. This award is aimed at enhancing research and education at all levels, especially in areas such as (a) characterization of chiral tricyclic lactams; (b) characterization of non-heme iron nitrosyl complexes of biological importance; (c) development and application of unnatural amino acids to investigate enzyme function and dynamics; (d) characterization of gold nanoparticle-cored dendrimers for the treatment and imaging of cancer; (e) development of organophosphorus Alzheimer's therapeutics; and (f) the study of selective small molecule membrane transport.
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is one of the most powerful tools available to chemists for the elucidation of the structure of molecules. It is used to identify unknown substances, to 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 spectrometers is essential to chemists who are carrying out frontier research. The results from these NMR studies will have an impact in synthetic organic/inorganic chemistry, materials chemistry and biochemistry. This instrument will be an integral part of teaching as well as research by undergraduate and master students at California State Long Beach University and students from two neighboring colleges.
