Chemistry Department at Durham University UK applies Spinsolve benchtop NMR in research and teaching

Dr Alan Kenwright is Reader in Spectroscopy and Manager of the solution-state NMR facility in the Chemistry Department at Durham University. His personal research is focussed on developing and using NMR techniques to solve a range of chemical problems.  In choosing to use Magritek’s Spinsolve, Dr Kenwright anticipates it will allow the extension of his work in various areas in ways that he could not otherwise.  He plans to use the equipment initially in three areas:

Dr Nicola Rogers is a post doc in the Kenwright group using the Magritek Spinsolve to make relaxation measurements on lanthanide complexes at Durham University. For ease of use, it is mounted on a trolley making it easy to move from lab to lab.
Dr Nicola Rogers is a post doc in the Kenwright group using the Magritek Spinsolve to make relaxation measurements on lanthanide complexes at Durham University. For ease of use, it is mounted on a trolley making it easy to move from lab to lab.

“The first application is in looking at lanthanide complexes of the sort used as contrast agents for MRI”  …  “being able to do measurements in the relatively low magnetic field (43 MHz) used by Magritek’s Spinsolve is a big advantage for us, particularly as the field it uses it not very different to the field actually used in many hospital MRI scanners. These measurements using the Spinsolve are just starting to appear in the literature.”  (reference given at the end of this blog post)

“The second is looking at real time reaction monitoring using flow-through NMR techniques. This is not a new idea, but has previously been limited by the requirement to bring the reaction close to a large (static) and expensive NMR spectrometer. The small size of the Spinsolve means that we can mount it on a trolley with an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) and move it around the department – taking the spectrometer to the fume cupboard where the reaction is being carried out.”

“Thirdly, we are planning to use the equipment in our first year teaching labs to allow students to go through the whole process of preparing and running an NMR spectrum for themselves. As many process become more automated, the opportunities for students to get involved “hands-on” become less, so exposing them to a robust, simple instrument they can use themselves is a big plus.”

Challenging lanthanide relaxation theory: erbium and thulium complexes that show NMR relaxation rates faster than dysprosium and terbium analogues: Funk et al;Phys.Chem.Chem.Phys., 2015, 17, 16507. (DOI: 10.1039/c5cp02210j)