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

该奖项由主要研究仪器计划、化学研究仪器计划和促进竞争性研究的既定计划（EPSCoR）共同资助。内华达大学里诺分校正在购买一台配备铜和钼源的单晶衍射仪，以支持Ana de Bettencourt-Dias教授及其同事Yftah talal - gan和Christopher Jeffrey的研究。该仪器促进了发光材料和元素化学、细菌交流和群体感应、化学生态学和天然产物化学的研究。一般来说，x射线衍射仪可以精确测量分子的完整三维结构，包括键距和角度，并提供有关分子相对于邻近分子的空间排列的准确信息。该仪器的功能增强了教师和学生的研究工作；它还成功地作为内华达州大学里诺分校许多部门各级学生教学工作的一部分，以及内华达北部地区的教学和推广工作的一部分。最值得注意的是，来自当地高中的学生学习了这项技术，以及它的发展历史，并有机会确定分离的简单化合物的结构，这是他们科学课程的一部分。该奖项旨在加强各级的研究和教育。该仪器的获得使研究跨越了化学、生物化学、生物学和材料科学的广泛领域，即发光材料、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、电子应用分子材料、多芳烃、传感器、治疗学、元素分离、金属循环、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。该仪器具有双铜和钼源，使研究小组能够从小分子、大分子和金属有机框架的结构表征中获得见解，并确定光原子分子的绝对结构。这些进一步加深了我们在上述领域的知识，并且所收集的结构信息无法通过任何其他技术获得。共有16名研究人员及其研究小组在5个机构进行了研究，其中包括2名NSF CAREER获得者，4名青少年，5名女性和4名西班牙裔研究人员，他们的研究受到该工具可用性的影响。来自不同社会经济背景的学生有机会获得通常不是本科课程一部分的技术，这为他们提供了重要的市场技能。此外，与当地一所学校的合作为高三学生提供了更深入地了解结构表征在科学中的重要性的机会。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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.