The specific aim of this proposal is to obtain funding to upgrade two NMR instruments, General Electric GN-500 (500 MHz) and Bruker WM-250 (250 MHz) spectrometers, in the NMR facility of the Department of Chemistry through the replacement of The GN-500 console with a new state-of-the-art console (Varian Unity plus 500 MHz console) and the purchase of a new 300 MHz spectrometer (Varian GEMINI 2000) to replace the WM-250 instrument. The proposed UNITY plus 500 console and accessories, with existing 500 MHz superconducting magnet, has the capability for conducting state-of-the-are NMR experiments on liquid and solid state samples. The complete GEMINI 2000 300 MHz spectrometer with accessories is equipped for conducting modern NMR experiments for the characterization of molecules by researchers in the various sub-disciplines of chemistry on a routine basis. The justification for this application rests first on the need for modern NMR instrumentation to carry out the large amount of NMR research done by departmental faculty. Five faculty will be the major users on the 500 MHz spectrometer. Three members do biochemical studies which require modern 500 MHz capability. One is examining the structures of metallobleomycins bound to DNA oligomers, which relate to the prototype chemical nuclease iron bleomycin. Another is involved with environmentally relevant work on the structure of lobster cadmium metallothionein and its relationship to mammalian metallothioneins. The third studies structure-reactivity relations in iron-sulfur proteins. A physical chemist does solid state NMR studies of industrially important catalytic surfaces and requires 500 MHz capability for solid state NMR studies. The fifth faculty member uses NMR spectroscopy extensively to characterize complex synthetic organic molecules. Additional faculty require routine NMR spectroscopy from the facility, primarily to determine the structures of newly synthesized moleculeq. In addition, it will be used by se veral research chemists from industries in the Milwaukee area for QC and structural analysis. In this context, the present instruments acquired in 1981 and 1986, respectively, are badly out of date and can not adequately serve current needs for state-of-the-art multidimensional NMR experimentation as well as high quality routine 2D NMR work. Thus, it is necessary to upgrade both instruments so that sufficient NMR time is available on each spectrometer to service faculty needs. It is also important to have a modern 500 MHz instrument so that the department can attract a faculty member in biological NMR spectroscopy to replace a professor in this area who resigned in 1994 because of the lack of such instrumentation, moving to another institution where such equipment is available. Finally, with the coordinated purchase of the new console and a 300 MHz spectrometer, it will be possible to train students routinely in the basic elements of experimental multidimensional NMR spectroscopy on the new 300 MHz spectrometer without the need to crowd the schedule of the 500 MHz instrument with this essential task. In so doing, the department's graduate course in pulsed NMR can be coordinated with a much needed laboratory for the enrolled students. Modern NMR spectroscopy is a central tool for chemists. Faculty research and recruitment and student training in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee has been increasingly inhibited by the inadequacies of its NMR instrumentation. The present proposal is submitted to remedy these fundamental problems.
