Purchase of an EPR Spectrometer

University Of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst MA

Investigators

Abstract

With support from the Chemistry Research Instrumentation and Facilities: Departmental Multi-User Instrumentation (CRIF:MU) Program, the Department of Chemistry at the University of Massachusetts Amherst will acquire an Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) Spectrometer. The main usage of this instrument will be for solution and frozen matrix investigation of organic radicals, polyradicals, nitrenes, carbenes, coordination complexes of paramagnetic ions (both biological and non-biological), magnetic materials, polymers, catalysts, and reactive intermediates. The dependability and user-friendly software of a modern EPR instrument will allow undergraduate researchers to use the instrument routinely and the proposed instrument will be a selling point for recruiting minority and underrepresented students to participate in the Northeast Alliance for Graduate Education and Professoriate. The student training on the EPR instrument will also make graduates more competitive in the industrial sector. An electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectrometer yields information on the molecular and electronic structure of molecules. It may also be used to obtain information about the lifetimes of free radicals, short-lived species that are often essential for the initiation of tumor growth and/or a variety of chemical reactions. EPR studies can have an impact in a number of areas, from manufacturing to materials and biological chemistry.