Expanding Capability and Capacity in High-Throughput Multinuclear NMR Spectroscopy

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is a fundamental method that underpins the study of the structure and behaviours of molecules. It is a powerful tool that facilitates structure determination of pure compounds (and in some cases even of mixtures of compounds), offers insight into the characteristics of materials, and allows reaction monitoring to provide understanding of chemical reaction mechanisms. The versatility of NMR spectrometers and associated types of NMR experiments has made them essential tools that are ubiquitous in chemistry departments.

Chemists, geochemists, materials and life scientists require rapid and high-throughput access to methods that extract both qualitative and quantitative information from increasingly complex samples matrices. A key requirement for these measurements (particularly applications requiring analysis of trace quantities) is a push to lower the limit of detection by increasing instrument sensitivity.

This proposal will fund the installation of a new cryogenically-cooled multinuclear NMR probe into an existing 500 MHz NMR spectrometer (part of the Southampton Chemistry NMR spectroscopy Small Research Facility) creating a new high-throughput multinuclear NMR spectrometer. The instrument will provide very high sensitivity and a low limit of detection for multinuclear liquid samples, especially for detecting heteroatoms, and will underpin a broad range of research areas including Catalysis, Chemical Reaction Dynamics and Mechanisms, Synthetic Organic Chemistry, Synthetic Supramolecular Chemistry, Synthetic Coordination Chemistry, Synthetic Biology, Geochemistry, Medicinal Imaging and Chemical Biology and Biological Chemistry.

The new strategic equipment will support research across the Southern region. The science from the regional partners (Universities of Bristol, Kent, Southampton and Sussex) will develop the capability and subsequently be extended to other academic and industry researchers to form a Centre of Excellence to enable high-priority EPSRC research and will complement EPSRC facilities nationally.