During the summer of 2004, Ohio Northern University provided $140,000 to upgrade our 15-year-old nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer (NMR) (Gemini 200). The Instrument was upgraded with entirely new electronics (Varian Mercury vX), which includes a pulsed field gradient module and the ability to routinely observe fluorine and phosphorous in addition to normal hydrogen and carbon experiments. The upgrade also included a new Sun (UNIX) Blade 150 workstation, a 4-nucleus probe, and shim coil for the magnet. New experiments that can be run on our 200 MHz spectrometer include 19F, 31P, gCOSY, gDQCOSY, gHETCOR, ,gNOESY, gHMBC, gHMQC, gHSQC. gHMQCTOCSY, and gHSQCTOCSY (What do these acronyms stand for?).

Pictures of the Installation process our shown below (if you click on the picture you can get the detailed view).

The magnet before installation.	The magnet and console (background) before installation.	The monitor and shim control knobs before installation.

These pictures of the interior of the NMR console depict the multitude of wires and controller cards required to run the instrument. The door, which had foam that was decomposing to tar, will surely not be missed.

The boxes containing the $140,000 NMR console and other parts arrived June 22nd, 2004.

The first piece installed, was an accessory for air filtration system, to separate the airflow for spinning and ejection.	This picture shows the work at the end of the first day of installation. The console is connected, computer is running, the new probe was installed, and we were able to observe spectra.

The wires in the new console, which almost appear manageable.	Here you can see the surprising similarity of the new leg components vs. the old legs, which are about ready to be removed. This is the second day of installation.	The Magnet with its new legs.

A comparison of the new (left) and old lock receiver cards.	A Sun Blade 150 UNIX computer is used to Fourier Transform the data and visualize the results of the complex calculations.

The new Mercury console and Sun Computer connected to our 4.7 Tesla magnet.	We also have a data station (Foreground) for busy times--Also we can login and run the spectrometer from our offices via an xsession and ssh (standard networking protocols).	A display has been created to illustrate the numerous experiments that can be run and the vast amount of data that can be obtained to support the identity of a chemical structure.

Back to the ONU Chemistry Department

By: Brian J. Myers

Last Updated: April 20, 2005