UConn’s 500 MHz NMR Instrument Gets Smart

NMR instrumentOver this summer, the Bruker Avance 500 MHz NMR spectrometer located in Pharmacy has undergone a major upgrade. We purchased and installed a new 5mm SmartProbe and performed the necessary console and shim upgrades to make the probe work. The probe has increased sensitivity of the 500 for 1H by several fold and also increased sensitivity for 13C, 31P and 15N. The other key feature of the SmartProbe is the ability to observe 19F with 1H decoupling and to perform two-dimensional 1H/19F spectroscopy that was not possible on this instrument before. Additionally, any of these nuclei can be automatically selected and optimally tuned and matched with the auto tune-match (ATM) component. During the installation of the SmartProbe, a new shim map was created and, with this, a user may enjoy automatic shimming by the Topshim routine. Overall, the new probe and associated upgrades should accelerate acquisition times, expand the number of observable nuclei, and simplify the experiment setup on the 500. The upgraded 500 is an instrument of choice for users with small quantities of a compound or where a higher resolution is necessary, and for multidimensional experiments such as HSQC, HMBC or NOESY. This upgrade should extend the lifetime of the 500 for another 5-10 years. Funds for the upgrade were provided by the Department of Chemistry, the Office of the Vice-Provost for Research, the Biotechnology and Bioservices Center, the Institute for Materials Science, and the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences. We sincerely thank all of them for their financial support.