Purchase of a 400 MHz NMR Spectrometer

University Of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst MA

Investigators

Abstract

With this award from the Chemistry Research Instrumentation and Facilities (CRIF) Program, the Department of Chemistry at the University of Massachusetts Amherst will acquire a 400 MHz NMR spectrometer and refurbish a 200 MHz spectrometer. The new spectrometer will be a part of the High-Field NMR Facility at the university - a facility open to research of the Five Colleges Consortium (UMass, Smith, Mt. Holyoke, Amherst and Hampshire Colleges) and surrounding industries. This equipment will enable researchers to carry out research on the tacticity of, and branching in polyolefins; branching in dendritic and hyperbranched macromolecules; mechanistic investigations of copper-based catalysts for cross-coupling reactions; structures of conjugated polymers; thermodynamics of the unfolding/recognition process; and structural dynamics of amphiphilic polymers. These instruments will also play a vital role in training undergraduates and local area high school students. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is the most powerful tool available to chemists for the elucidation of the structure of molecules. It is used to identify unknown substances, to characterize specific arrangements of atoms within molecules, and to study the dynamics of interactions between molecules in solution. Access to state-of-the-art NMR spectrometers is essential to chemists who are carrying out frontier research. The results from these NMR studies will have an impact in the development of novel polymers.