Acquisition of A 500 MHz NMR Console

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Funds are requested from the NSF to assist in the purchase of a 500 MHz nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) console and two probes. The requested console will replace an existing Varian VXR-500 console (made in 1987) and will be located in the recently expanded Department of Chemistry's Instrumentation Facility (DCIF). The addition of a modern 500 MHz NMR console is an integral part of a major initiative, including a $540,000 renovation, which is already underway to upgrade and modernize the multi-user DCIF at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The new capabilities provided by a 500 MHz NMR instrument with three rf channels and pulsed field gradients are vital for the carrying out of biologically-related research in the Department. Projects that will benefit from the acquisition of a high-field NMR instrument fall into the following general categories: (1) investigations of drug-DNA interactions; (2) design of drugs that selectively inactivate tumor cells; (3) development of a chemical understanding of the basis for helicity in proteins; and (4) NMR studies of small proteins. At present, the two 500 MHz NMR consoles in the DCIF are more than 10 years old. The lack of modern, high-field NMR instrumentation requires Departmental researchers with a need for state-of-the-art NMR technology to obtain time at regional facilities and negatively impacts productivity. Biological research being carried out in the Department would be greatly facilitated by a 500 MHz NMR console with increased sensitivity, better shims, digital filtering, pulsed-field gradients, selective excitation, and triple resonance.