A New Liquid-state 400MHz NMR Spectrometer for Molecular Characterisation

功能分子和大分子在我们的日常生活中有着广泛的应用，从化妆品到洗发水和清洁产品，再到药用活性药物和农用化学农药。作为化学家，我们的任务之一就是了解原子在这些分子中是如何排列和连接的。通过这种方式，我们可以将分子的结构与其性质直接联系起来；它们随后的应用使它们融入到我们的日常生活中。用于研究这些分子的一项关键技术是液态核磁共振波谱。这项技术被用来对原子在分子中的排列方式产生详细的了解，使我们能够理解原子排列在化学反应中的变化。反过来，这使我们能够为特定和选择性的目的构建设计分子。这一建议将使购买一个新的液态核磁共振光谱仪，将取代过时和低效的光谱仪。这台新的光谱仪将成为圣安德鲁斯液态核磁共振设备的一部分，为我们提供高样品吞吐量（通常每年超过75000个样品），并允许我们研究数千个分子的连通性。新机器将比旧型号更具可持续性，在正常使用中使用更少的能源和冷却剂（估计每年节省4000英镑），同时提高研究效率和生产力。液态核磁共振是一种在物理科学中广泛应用的技术，直接支持了圣安德鲁斯大学化学学院超过50%的研究人员。该设施将支持两名早期职业研究人员和大量博士生（包括那些在CRITICAT和EaSICAT博士培训计划）和博士后研究人员的研究，此外还有学院一半以上的知名学者。我们的愿景是，该设备将成为我们实现世界一流设施可持续性目标的重要一步，从而确保必要的仪器基础，使我们能够继续为未来提供世界领先的研究。它将为整个大学的所有研究人员提供一个核心科学设施，以提高科学的质量。将开展的工作将侧重于具有基础科学兴趣的各种系统以及在制药、农用化学品和医疗保健方面的应用。

Functional molecules and macromolecules find applications in our everyday lives, from cosmetics to shampoo and cleaning products through to pharmaceutically active medicines and agrochemical pesticides. One of our roles as chemists is to understand how atoms are arranged and connected in these molecules. In this way, we can correlate the structure of a molecule directly to its properties; their subsequent application allows them to be incorporated into our everyday lives. One key technique used to study these molecules is liquid-state NMR spectroscopy. This technique is used to generate a detailed understanding of how the atoms are arranged in molecules, allowing us to understand how atomic arrangements change in chemical reactions. In turn, this allows us to build designer molecules for specific and selective purposes. This proposal will enable the purchase of a new liquid-state NMR spectrometer that will replace an obsolete and inefficient spectrometer. This new spectrometer will be part of the liquid-state NMR facility at St Andrews, giving us high sample throughput (typically over 75000 samples per year) and allowing us to study the connectivity of thousands of molecules. The new machine will be more sustainable than the older model, using less energy and coolants in normal use (estimated savings of £4 k per year) while improving research efficiency and productivity. Liquid-state NMR is a widely used technique in the physical sciences, directly supporting over 50% of the total researcher headcount in the School of Chemistry at the University of St Andrews. This facility will support the research of two early career researchers and a large number of PhD students (including those in the CRITICAT and EaSICAT doctoral training programmes) and post-doctoral researchers, in addition to over half of the established academics within the School.The vision is that this equipment will be an important step towards our goal of transforming the sustainability of our world-class facilities, thereby securing the instrumentation base necessary to allow us to continue to deliver world-leading research into the future. It will provide a core science facility that can be accessed by all researchers across the University to enhance the quality of science possible. The work that will be carried out will focus on a variety of systems of fundamental scientific interest as well as those with applications in pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and healthcare.