Acquisition of a 700 MHz nuclear magnetic resonance instrument with cryogenically cooled probe for the Analytical Chemistry Center of the University of São Paulo

Abstract

The Analytical Chemistry Center of the USP Institute of Chemistry (IQ) has maintained one of the largest nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) equipment facilities in the country and has made that equipment available to a great number of research groups (including those of private sector companies) that employ NMR as a highresolution analytical tool for studying the composition, structure, and conformational behavior/dynamics of chemical materials. The services offered (sample analysis, training, and technical support for advanced users) are possible due to the team of highly qualified technicians and the modern infrastructure of the USP-IQ, as well as the maintenance and modernization of the equipment, funded, in part, by resources obtained from the fees charged for providing services. In this project, we intend to acquire an NMR instrument, equipped with a cryogenically cooled probe, to be incorporated into to the Analytical Chemistry Center of the USP-IQ. The equipment will benefit a great number of users of the NMR services administrated by the Center, researchers at our Institute in particular, together with other researchers in the city and state of São Paulo, as well as in the rest of the country. This equipment, in combination with the cryogenically cooled probe requested, will increase the capacity of the users to analyze systems and samples of greater complexity (polymers, biological macromolecules, and mixtures of natural products) with greater sensitivity and resolution (for example, with the cryogenically cooled probe, macromolecules can be studied by employing concentrations in the micromolar range). The multi-user nature of this project, combined with the open administration of the Center, ensures that the new instrument will be available to a panoply of users and collaborators at the IQ and at other research centers in the state of São Paulo. This will also effectively expand the small group of centers in the country specializing in macromolecular NMR. (AU)