MRI: Track 1 Acquisition of a Single Crystal X-Ray Diffractometer for Chemical and Biological Structure Determination

该奖项由重大研究仪器计划、化学研究仪器计划和既定的激励竞争性研究计划(EPSCoR)共同资助。内华达大学雷诺分校正在购买一台单晶衍射仪，配备铜和钼源，以支持Ana de Bettencourt-Dias教授与同事Yftah Tal-Gan和Christopher Jeffrey的研究。该仪器促进了发光材料和f元素化学、细菌通讯和群体感应、化学生态学和天然产物化学的研究。通常，X射线衍射仪可以准确和精确地测量分子的完整三维结构，包括键距离和角度，并提供关于分子相对于邻近分子的空间排列的准确信息。该仪器的特点加强了教职员工和学生的研究工作；它还成功地作为内华达大学雷诺分校许多系的各级学生教学工作的一部分，以及在内华达北部地区的教学和推广中使用。最值得注意的是，地区高中的学生学习这项技术及其发展历史，并有机会确定作为其科学课程一部分的简单化合物的结构。该奖项旨在加强各级的研究和教育。通过收购该仪器，该仪器的研究覆盖了化学、生物化学、生物学和材料科学的广泛领域，即发光材料、f元素化学、细菌通讯和群体感应、化学生态学、有机金属化学和催化、药物化学、电子应用的分子材料、多芳烃、传感器、声学、f元素分离、金属环、聚乙炔的生物活性、生物聚合物、植物细胞壁生物学和肌肉蛋白质。该仪器具有铜和钼两种来源，使研究小组能够从小分子、大分子和金属有机骨架的结构表征以及轻原子分子的绝对结构确定中获得见解。这些进一步加深了我们在上述领域的知识，收集的结构信息无法通过任何其他技术获得。对5个机构的16名调查人员及其研究小组的研究受到该仪器可用性的影响，其中包括2名NSF职业获得者、4名初级调查人员、5名女性调查人员和4名西班牙裔调查人员。来自不同社会经济背景的学生可以接触到一项通常不在本科课程中的技术，这为他们提供了一项重要的市场技能。此外，与当地一所学校的合作为高中高年级学生提供了更深入的了解结构表征在科学中的重要性。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award is jointly funded by the Major Research Instrumentation Program, the Chemistry Research Instrumentation Program, and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). The University of Nevada, Reno is purchasing a single crystal diffractometer equipped with copper and molybdenum sources to support the research of Professor Ana de Bettencourt-Dias with colleagues Yftah Tal-Gan and Christopher Jeffrey. This instrument facilitates research in luminescent materials and f element chemistry, bacterial communication and quorum sensing, chemical ecology, and natural products chemistry. In general, an X-ray diffractometer allows accurate and precise measurements of the full three-dimensional structure of a molecule, including bond distances and angles, and provides accurate information about the spatial arrangement of a molecule relative to neighboring molecules. The features of this instrument enhance the research efforts of faculty and students; it is also successfully deployed as part of the teaching efforts of students at all levels in many departments at the University of Nevada, Reno and in teaching and outreach in the Northern Nevada region. Most notably, students from area high schools learn about the technique, and the history of its development, and have access to determine the structure of simple compounds isolated as part of their science curriculum. The award is aimed at enhancing research and education at all levels. The research enabled by the acquisition of this instrument spans a wide range of areas in chemistry, biochemistry, biology and materials science, namely, luminescent materials, f element chemistry, bacterial communication and quorum sensing, chemical ecology, organometallic chemistry and catalysis, medicinal chemistry, molecular materials for electronics applications, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, sensors, theranostics, f element separation, metallacycles, biological activity of polyacetylenes, biopolymers, plant cell wall biology and muscle proteins. The availability of the instrument with dual copper and molybdenum sources allows the research groups to gain insights from the structural characterization of small molecules, macromolecules and metalorganic frameworks, and the determination of absolute structure of light-atom molecules. These further our knowledge in the areas mentioned above, and the structural information collected cannot be accessed by any other technique. The research of a total of 16 investigators and their research groups spanning 5 institutions, which include 2 NSF CAREER recipients, 4 junior, 5 female and 4 Hispanic investigators, is impacted by the availability of the instrument. Students from varied socio-economic backgrounds have access to a technique that is not usually part of the undergraduate curriculum, which provides them with an important marketable skill. In addition, a collaboration with a local school provides high school seniors with a more in-depth understanding of the importance of structural characterization in the sciences.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.