Renewal and upgrade of the 500 MHz NMR spectrometer of the School of Chemistry NMR facility

核磁共振波谱是一种强大的实验技术，在化学、生物学和物理学的许多分支中都有应用。它提供了关于分子、它们的相互作用和材料中的组织的丰富信息。特别是，溶液状态核磁共振已经确立了自己作为有机和无机化学家日常使用的领先分析技术的地位。核磁共振用于跟踪化学合成的进展，最终对最终产品进行详细的表征。核磁共振也是物理有机化学家研究反应机理、反应动力学和分子构象的首选方法。在基于核磁共振的复杂有机小分子混合物的表征方面做出了重大贡献，如代谢物、各种自然环境基质(水、土壤和空气)、食品和饮料。在制药行业的药物设计和开发中，核磁共振也是不可或缺的。因此，对于物理和生命科学领域的研究人员来说，进入设备齐全的核磁共振实验室是至关重要的。因为所有的有机分子都含有碳和氢，所以这些原子是核磁共振研究最频繁的。然而，近年来，对含有其他丰度核的分子的研究出现了热潮，如硼、氟、铝、硅、磷或硒，通常被称为X核。这一领域的突破揭示了对化学键和新形式催化的新见解，并最终将产生未来所需的化学，以产生一个可持续的化学工业，利用最丰富的资源，取代通常用作化学反应催化剂的稀有元素。我们的核磁共振设备已经为化学学院以及爱丁堡大学和其他苏格兰大学的研究人员提供了更广泛的支持。我们认为，提供这些更新和增强的能力作为基于地点的投资是必要和及时的，以使上述研究领域和跨EPSRC职权范围的其他学科的重要新兴研究得以实现。通过这项投资，我们正在更换我们老化的一台核磁共振光谱仪的一部分，以提供研究上述P块核和其他X核(如锂、镓、锰、镉或镧)的能力，并具有尽可能高的灵敏度和更广泛的温度范围。增强的X核能力将使科学成为可能，增加可以进行的研究的规模和雄心，带来对反应中间体往往复杂的组成的新理解，指导未来分子和催化剂的设计，为新的有价值的化合物开辟可持续的新途径。该仪器的高灵敏度将加快从实验台到出版的研究周期，无论是对于X原子核，还是通过增加整个设施的吞吐量，使研究人员专注于更传统的含碳和含氢分子。

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is a powerful experimental technique used in many branches of chemistry, biology and physics. It provides a wealth of information about molecules, their interactions and organisation in materials. In particular, solution-state NMR has established itself as the leading analytical technique used on an everyday basis by organic and inorganic chemists. NMR is used to follow the progress of chemical syntheses, culminating with a detailed characterisation of the final products. NMR is also the method of choice for physical organic chemists in studies of reaction mechanisms, reaction kinetics and the conformation of molecules. Significant contributions have been made in NMR-based characterisation of complex mixtures of small organic molecule such as metabolites, various natural environment matrices (water, soil, and air), food and beverages. NMR is also indispensable in the design and development of drugs by pharmaceuticals industry. Access to a well-equipped NMR laboratory is thus essential to researchers across physical and life sciences.As all organic molecules contain carbon and hydrogen, these atoms are the most frequently studied by NMR. Nevertheless, recent years have seen an upsurge in the studies of molecules containing other abundant nuclei, such as boron, fluorine, aluminium, silicon, phosphorus, or selenium, referred to generally as X nuclei. Breakthroughs in this area are revealing new insights into chemical bonding, new forms of catalysis, and ultimately will generate the future chemistry needed to produce a sustainable chemical industry that utilises the most abundant resources, replacing the rare elements often used as catalysts of chemical reactions. Our NMR facility already supports researchers in the School of Chemistry and more widely across the University of Edinburgh and other Scottish universities. We consider it essential and timely that these renewed and augmented capabilities are provided as a place-based investment to enable both the areas of research noted above and important emerging research in other disciplines across the EPSRC remit. Through this investment we are replacing parts of one of our aging NMR spectrometers to provide capabilities to study the above listed p block nuclei and other X nuclei such as lithium, gallium, manganese, cadmium or lanthanum with the highest possible sensitivity and over an extended temperature range. Enhanced X nuclei capabilities will enable science not currently possible, increase the scale and ambition of the research that can be undertaken, bringing new understanding of often complex composition of reaction intermediates, guiding the design of future molecules and catalysts to open up sustainable new routes to novel valuable compounds. The high sensitivity of this instrument will accelerate the research cycle from bench to publication, both for X nuclei and overall by increasing throughput across the facility for researchers focusing on more traditional carbon and hydrogen containing molecules.