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NSF grant supports new spectrometer
The 400-megahertz spectrometer will be equipped with an auto-sampler, which will make it much easier to use for the many researchers who are unfamiliar with the equipment but in need of the results it provides, according to Joseph M. Fox, UD assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry and the principal investigator for the project. In addition, it will feature a computer server that will allow for remote access to UD’s top-flight spectrometers by researchers and students at Delaware State University, Lincoln University and Delaware Technical and Community College, Fox said. Currently, these institutions have either limited or no access to such instrumentation. It is expected the machinery will arrive on campus and be installed in February 2005. Fox said the UD NMR spectrometer complex in Brown Laboratory is among the most widely used research facilities on campus, adding that the demands on the facility have increased significantly during the past five years in response to expanded research efforts of recently hired faculty and the increased needs for modern NMR methods by researchers participating in multidisciplinary research initiatives. “The University of Delaware has state-of-the-art NMR facilities,” Fox said. “That is important because the field of chemistry and biochemistry is increasingly becoming multidisciplinary. Researchers in biology, materials science, chemical engineering and a variety of other disciplines have needs in chemistry, and NMR is an excellent tool to provide them that information.” An NMR with an auto-sampler is a step up because it drastically reduces the preparation time for research samples and provides results quickly. “With the new instrument, a researcher will be able to visit the NMR facility, put their sample in the auto-sampler, push a button and have the resulting data sent to them via e-mail,” Fox said. “No longer will they have to sit around and wait, which can be discouraging.” The auto-sampler also will have a strong impact on undergraduate research at UD. “We have an extremely strong undergraduate research program at the University,” Fox said. “This will facilitate undergraduate education because it provides results to non-experts in the field of NMR who nonetheless have high-end needs.” Currently, he said, undergraduates are unable to use the instruments without taking a course to learn how to use the sophisticated machinery. The course requires time that many undergraduates simply lack. “With the new auto-sampler, they will not have to commit to that block of time,” Fox said. “Now an undergraduate doing research can use the auto-sampler to have data e-mailed to them, and can then process the results on their laptops in their residence halls.” The remote access feature of the new NMR spectrometer will be of great benefit to other institutions in the region, Fox said, enabling them to conduct research and to teach by integrating use of the instrument in laboratories. Fox said the NSF project has been a “broad-based effort” involving not only the other institutions but a variety of UD departments, the Center for Composite Materials and the Delaware Biotechnology Institute. The funding for the NMR spectrometer is provided through NSF’s major research instrumentation program, Fox said. Co-investigators for the grant are Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry faculty members John Koh, Tatyana Polenova and Charles Riordan. The efforts of Steve Bai, director of UD’s Blue Hen NMR complex, and Pat McMahon, departmental Information Technologies associate, were also crucial to the success of the proposal, Fox said. Fox joined the UD faculty in 2001 after serving as a National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Princeton University and master’s and doctoral degrees from Columbia University. Article by Neil Thomas To learn how to subscribe to UDaily, click here. |
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