CAREER: Study of Electrically Aligned Molecules with NMR

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Professor Matthew Augustine of the University of California at Davis is funded by a CAREER grant in the Experimental Physical Chemistry program. He will develop a new Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) method for structure determination of molecules in solution in which an electric field is applied to the sample. This destroys the isotropic nature of the solution and introduces electronically and distance dependent anisotropic line splittings to an NMR spectrum. He has preliminary results demonstrating the effect. The additional information allows structure predictions of unprecedented accuracy. Multiply bonded organometallic compounds and DNA and DNA/protein complexes are to be studied. Professor Augustine plans to modify quantum mechanics and freshman chemistry courses to meet diverse educational needs of graduate and undergraduate students at UC Davis. He also plans to educate the public about NMR through the High School Chemistry Olympiad and the Sacramento section of the American Chemical Society.Magnetic resonance is a method that is rapidly becoming a standard tool in chemistry for the determination of structures of molecules such as proteins and DNA. It is the chemical version of the more widely known medical diagnostic, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Professor Augustine's work based on a more sophisticated experimental setup will improve the quality of this type of data and will allow scientists to make more accurate structure determinations of chemically and biologically important molecules. Professor Augustine's educational efforts will improve the integration of quantum mechanics into university coursework at all levels. A second effort will seek to educate the public about magnetic resonance methods.