Overview

Mission: 

To Provide strong support and excellent service for structural characterization of small molecular and macromolecule-based biomaterial in solution and solid state

To facilitate the research and development of NMR spectroscopy as a premier method for structural analysis of a wide variety of systems in solution and solid states

Overview

The NMR laboratory, resides in a two-story atrium of Brown Laboratory with a lab space of 4650 square feet, houses six NMR spectrometers with operating proton frequency ranging from 400 MHz to 850 MHz. The NMR laboratory takes advantage of most recently enabling developments in NMR spectroscopy that have either expanded NMR applications or greatly improved the efficiency of the technique.  The NMR laboratory provides NMR services, teaching, and user training to the University community.

User Profile

More than 39 research groups from 8 University departments and units and more than 400 users (undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers) utilize the services of the NMR Laboratory.

Instrument Core Center of the NIH-COBRE III:  Molecular Design of Advanced Biomaterials

The CBC NMR laboratory is an integral part of the Core Instrumentation Facilities of NIH COBRE III at the University of Delaware.  14 out of 37 PI NMR users are COBRE investigators and approximately 84% of the NMR instrument time have been used by the COBRE funded research programs over past five years.

Instrumentation and Capabilities

Two solution 400 MHz NMR spectrometers, one with an auto-sampler and a cryogenic QNP probe and another with the multinuclear capabilities, are available for routine proton and multinuclear NMR analysis of organic and inorganic materials.  Two solution 600 MHz spectrometers, one with a triple-resonance cryogenic probe for biomolecular samples and another with an auto-sampler and enhanced 19F capabilities for expanded NMR applications such as high-resolution magic angle spinning (HRMAS) for semi-solid materials.

The 500 MHz solid-state NMR spectrometer is equipped with 3 probes, including a broadband 4.0 mm HX probe and a 3.2 mm  triple-resonance (1H, 13C, and 15N) probe.  The 850 MHz spectrometer is hybridized for both solution and solid-state NMR measurements. With the ultra-high magnetic field and a large collection of solution and solid-state NMR probes, the 850 MHz NMR spectrometer covers a broad range of applications from inorganic material, synthetic organic polymeric materials to structure and dynamic studies in structural biology.

In addition to the departmental NMR instrument, four NMR spectrometers with frequencies ranging from 200 to 600 MHz are used and maintained by the following research groups: Polenova, Dybowski, and Rozovsky.  Most of these spectrometers are dedicated solid-state NMR instruments.

Financial Support

Traditionally, the institutional support made a primary contribution to the operational budget of NMR laboratory.  A user-fee structure has been established in February 2014 to offset the  increasing expenses of maintaining the expanded NMR laboratory in terms of the number of  instruments and users.  Since July 2014, the COBRE III has been providing significant contribution to the NMR laboratory operational budget.  To all federally funded investigators: please acknowledge the NIH support of this COBRE sponsored  Core  in all your publications where you utilized the NMR core. The language for the acknowledgment can be found in a COBRE citation webpage.