Design and development of radio frequency components for a new portable benchtop NMR spectrometer

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PROTO Manufacturing (PROTO, Oldcastle, ON) has been designing, manufacturing, and selling X-ray diffraction (XRD) equipment since 1967, and has extensive expertise in fabrication of scientific benchtop instrumentation. Recently, PROTO has become interested in expanding their lineup of benchtop instrumentation to include a portable, low-field, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer, since there is a clear need for such instrumentation in academic and industrial environments. At present, commercially available benchtop NMR spectrometers (BNS) are limited in terms of their portability, restricted modularity, and range of applications (e.g., basic applications in teaching laboratories). PROTO wishes to collaborate with Prof. Robert W. Schurko at the University of Windsor, who has expertise in the design and application of NMR probes and advanced NMR acquisition methods. The collaboration will focus on the development and design of a probe, amplifiers, and experimental techniques needed for PROTO's BNS. The proposed BNS will be made competitive with current instruments by: (i) designing a BNS that is more portable, modular, and inexpensive; and (ii) developing experiments and applications that are widely applicable in not only teaching environments (the current focus of most BNS systems), but also in industrial laboratories (e.g., pharmaceuticals, oil/energy), on-site applications (e.g., environmental sampling), and hospitals (e.g., high-throughput sampling of biological fluids and tissues). The development of this BNS will allow PROTO to expand into the NMR sector and to better compete with international companies, leading to net socioeconomic benefits for Canada.