Acquisition of an EPR Spectrometer

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The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Utah State University requests matching funds from NSF to purchase an Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) Spectrometer. EPR is a fundamental spectroscopic technique with applications that span both chemistry and biochemistry. The acquisition of an EPR spectrometer by Utah State University would fill a void in our current instrumentation facilities. A new EPR spectrometer would become the centerpiece for several Chemistry and Biochemistry research programs and courses. The current courses offered by the university that would utilize an EPR spectrometer in their curricula are: Physical Chemistry, Advanced Synthesis, and Instrumental Analysis laboratories as well as Physical Biochemistry and Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy. Each of these courses would instruct students in the fundamental principles of EPR spectroscopy as well as the applications relevant to the course outline, with additional "hands-on" operation of the instrument. Instrument operation would include: sample preparation, data collection, and data processing. The type of data collected (i.e. organic free radicals or transition metal complexes) would depend on the course objectives and level. EPR spectroscopy would also form a central element in research projects across the University and the region. Research projects of faculty members in Molecular Biology and Biology at Utah State University would be minor users of a new EPR spectrometer. In addition, a faculty member in the Biochemistry Department at Brigham Young University and a faculty member in the Biochemistry Department at Oregon State University would be periodic users. Seven major users and three minor users of an EPR spectrometer have been identified in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Utah State University. In each of these research projects, graduate students and postdoctoral research associates will be trained to record and process their data. The specific re search projects described within the proposal are listed below: a. Elucidating the Mechanism of Coupling MgATP Hydrolysis to Electron Transfer in the Metalloenzyme Nitrogenase. b. Characterization of the Nickel-Iron Sulfur Center of Carbon Monoxide Dehydrogenase from Rhodospirillum rubrum. c. EPR Investigations into the Function of the Dinuclear Hydrolytic Aminopeptidase from Aeromonas proteolytica. d. Mechanisms of the Light-Induced Inhibition of Photosynthesis and its Relation to Photoassembly of the Mn- Containing Water-Oxidizing Complex. e. Elucidation of the Coordination Symmetry and Location of the Binding Sites for Iron on Erionite. f. Free Radical Mediated Oxidative and Reductive Reactions Catalyzed by Fungal Peroxidases. g. Hydrogen Atom Transfer Reactions of Radical Cations.