Refurbishment of the 600 MHz NMR at the Mississippi Magnetic Resonance Facility at Mississippi State University

Mississippi State University, Mississippi State MS

Investigators

Abstract

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). With support from the Chemistry Research Instrumentation and Facilities: Multiuser program (CRIF:MU), the Department of Chemistry at Mississippi State University will refurbish and cyber enhance a 600 MHz nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer. It will be employed in a wide variety of research projects, supporting structural, reaction, and analytical studies such as 1) the synthesis of anti-cancer plant constituents; 2) the impact of salt on enzyme stability, activity and flexibility; 3) the mechanisms by which tachykinin peptides produce signal activation and desensitization of tachykinin receptors; 4) fuels and chemicals from fast pyrolysis of biomass; 5) the large-scale synthesis of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) with carbon frameworks that can be identified on the buckminsterfullerene surface; and 6) biophysical studies of oncogenes that form single stranded intramolecular folded structures known as G-quadruplexes. Multinuclear NMR spectroscopy is an essential analytical tool in chemistry and biochemistry research. The spectra enable researchers to identify unknown substances and to provide information on the atom arrangement and structures in species ranging from small molecules to large proteins by detecting transitions between energy levels arising from the nuclear spin properties of atoms. This spectrometer will enhance many Mississippi State programs that promote teaching and learning of undergraduates and graduate students. The instrument will anchor the Mississippi Magnetic Resonance Facility (MS-MRF) at Mississippi State University. It will be used by 7 departments in 4 Colleges at MSU, several bio-institutes, as well as researchers at the University of Mississippi, the Mississippi Medical Center and eight other participating institutions in the region.