MRI: Acquisition of an NMR console and probe to support research and education

This award is supported by the Major Research Instrumentation and the Chemistry Research Instrumentation programs. The University of North Carolina at Wilmington (UNCW) is upgrading the electronics of a console for a 500 MHz nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer and is equipping it with a modern probe to support chemistry research at UNCW. This spectrometer allows research in a variety of fields such as those that accelerate chemical reactions of significant economic importance, as well as permitting study of chemically and biologically relevant species.

In general, 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 or in the solid state.

Access to state-of-the-art NMR spectrometers is essential to chemists who are carrying out frontier research. This instrument is an integral part of teaching as well as research and research training of undergraduate students in chemistry and biochemistry at this institution as well as collaborators from regional colleges such as those from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke that serves a distinctly diverse student body.

Students from the Pembroke’s Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement (RISE) Program whose goal is to create a more diverse research workforce are users of this instrumentation.

The award of the NMR spectrometer is aimed at enhancing research and education at all levels. It especially impacts the development of methodologies to facilitate the structure elucidation of small and medium-sized molecules. The instrumentation is also used to study the chemical ecology and for structurally determining natural products from cultured microbes and harmful algal blooms. The instrument also serves researchers evaluating medicinal plant extracts.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.