Upgrade of nuclear magnetic resonance equipment

Abstract

The technique of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is without a doubt one of the principal means of elucidating the structure of organic compounds, organometallic compounds, and proteins. Therefore, it is of great utility to research groups working in the areas of natural products (fungi, plants and animals marine), organic/organometallic synthesis, and structural analysis of proteins. More recently, NMR has been employed in the quality control of foodstuffs (“fingerprinting”) and in metabolomic/ metabonomic studies. However, it is a technique that is constantly and rapidly being modified. Therefore, it is of fundamental importance that we maintain our equipment up-to-date and in working condition, as well as, principally, making it accessible to as many users as possible. Since its founding in 1994, the NMR laboratory of the UFSCar Department of Chemistry has always functioned primarily as a multi-user laboratory. In addition, the laboratory staff have always attempted to alleviate user difficulties related to the interdisciplinary nature of the work conducted there. The laboratory functions in various areas, including the following: structural analysis; the use of NMR as an analytical tool (fingerprinting) applied to herbal drugs, foodstuffs, fuels, biological fluids etc.; the use of NMR in metabolomic studies of soybeans, other beans, and biological fluids; and NMR studies of solid states. The present proposal is aimed at upgrading the current NMR spectrometer (DRX 400; Bruker), which is designed for the analysis of small volumes. Despite having a number of accessories, the electronic component is quite old. The device was acquired in 1993 with a FAPESP Thematic Project grant. In 1995, the equipment was upgraded with funds from a FAPESP Multi-User Project grant. We are now requesting a new upgrade, which will involve changing out the electronic component, acquiring an automatic tuning and matching accessory (probe with ATMA), together with an autosampler. With these upgrades, it will be possible to conduct fingerprinting and metabolomic studies more rapidly and with reproducibility. We have two other equipment, both of which were also acquired in the 1990s: an ARX-200, which is employed for the screening of samples; and a Unity Plus 400, which is configured for analysis of samples in solid states. (AU)