MRI: Acquisition of a Single Crystal Diffractometer for Teaching and Research at Rutgers University

This award is supported by the Major Research Instrumentation and the Chemistry Research Instrumentation programs. Rutgers University-New Brunswick is acquiring a single crystal X-ray diffractometer (SCXRD) to support Professor Alan Goldman and colleagues Edward Arnold, Jing Li, Weiwei Xie and Jianyuan Zhang. In general, an X-ray diffractometer allows accurate and precise measurements of the full three-dimensional structure of a molecule, including bond distances and angles, and provides accurate information about the spatial arrangement of a molecule relative to neighboring molecules.

The studies described here impact many areas, including organic and inorganic chemistry, materials chemistry, and biochemistry. This instrument is an integral part of teaching as well as research and research training of undergraduate and graduate students as well as collaborators from other regional institutions such as Princeton University, City University of New York and the University of Delaware.

The award of this diffractometer is aimed at enhancing research and education at all levels. It especially impacts the development of transition-metal-based catalysts for transformations of simple organic molecules and the characterization of crystalline solid-state inorganic and inorganic-organic hybrid materials. The instrumentation is also used for determining the structures of non-centrosymmetric superconductors and interplay of topology and magnetism in quantum materials and studying molecular mechanisms of HIV polyprotein precursors and reverse transcriptase.

The instrument also serves researchers investigating endohedral metal cluster control in metallofullerene derivatives for use as molecular qubits and those designing molecular organometallic catalysts and supramolecular structures for energy-related transformations and functional materials.

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.