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NMR SPECTROSCOPY FACILTY

The NMR facility at Hunter College

Director: Matthew Devany, Ph.D., Room: 1302N, Phone: (212) 772-5337, Fax: (212) 772-5332, Email: mdevany@hunter.cuny.edu

Background and Overview

The NMR facility at Hunter was established in 1983 and has recently undergone major renovations. At present, the facility consists of four NMR instruments: a JEOL GX-400, a Varian Inova 500, a Bruker Avance 500 equipped with a 13C-1H cryoprobe, and a Bruker Avance III 600 MHz spectrometer equipped with a cryoprobe. These spectrometers are utilized by scientists from Hunter College, as well as from the entire CUNY community. The large variety of available probes allows detection of virtually any NMR-active nuclide. Data analysis is performed either at the spectrometer workstation with vendor software or off-line with third party software packages. The Facility gets extensive use from researchers for the analysis of organic and inorganic compounds, for the identification of natural products, and for the determination of three-dimensional structures of macromolecules.

Philosophy

Rather than acting as a service facility, to which researchers submit samples or make requests, the NMR Facility is an integral part of the research experience at Hunter. Almost all experiments are performed on a hands-on basis by undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty. Researchers employ the spectrometers to perform a wide range of experiments, from "simple" proton and carbon spectra, to basic two-dimensional experiments, such as COSY and NOESY, to the latest higher dimensional sequences used in structural biology.

NMR1

Equipment

600 MHz Bruker Avance III	The 600 MHz Bruker Avance III instrument is the newest addition to our NMR facility. This 1H cryoprobe-equipped four channel spectrometer is a state-of-the-art ultra-shielded magnet with an impressively small stray field, yielding increased lab safety and field homogeneity. Currently, this instrument is reserved for structural biology studies of macromolecules.
Bruker Avance 500 MHz	This is our workhorse instrument, used by numerous researchers every day. Unique among our instruments is the carbon-proton cryoprobe of this spectrometer. This probe gives a sensitivity enhancement of a factor of four over conventional probes, for both carbon and proton observe experiments. All researchers have access to the ultra-high sensitivity which this probe provides. This probe provides the ability to perform 13C experiments, as well as 2D experiments on sample quantities which are too small to analyze on conventional probes.
JEOL GX 400 MHz	The GX-400 is our most versatile instrument, with full variable temperature and multinuclear capabilities. We have 5mm as well as 10mm broadband probes, as well as a 10mm low frequency probe. The instrument is most commonly used for observing , nuclei other than 1H and 13C, e.g. 31P and 183W, and for variable temperature experiments.
Varian Inova 500 MHz	The Inova is a sophisticated instrument capable of NMR on both liquids and solids. It is equipped with Z-axis pulsed field gradients, a variety of probes, and high power amplifiers. It has been utilized for the characterization of solids, variable temperature experiments on a variety of nuclides such as 1H, 13C, 19F, and 99Tc, and also for the structure determination of peptides and proteins, making use of 1D, 2D, and 3D experiments.

Charges

The cost for use of the Facility is $6/hour. This applies to researchers at Hunter or other CUNY schools. If time is available, researchers from other universities may use the Facility for the same price. The charge for industrial use is $100/hour and is allowable if this usage does not conflict with federal regulations concerning use of equipment purchased with federal funds.