UW CHEMISTRY NMR

GG500 – Apparent outlier in the pack :

Before GG500, we had a really aging and tired DRX500 console, which needed to be driven with a software interface that was predictable and repetitive, to accommodate its fragile and irreparable hardware and produce useful NMR data.

The curated work flow of IconNMR’s Routine Spectroscopy interface was the best we could come up with at the time.

Even after we received the gift of a modern AVANCE III console in the form of GG500,  we had to still contend with two bottlenecks (1) sample handling (2) probe tuning/matching, with the legacy probeheads that have been serving us for about 20 years now, while also maintaining a sense of continuity.

I am acutely aware of the software glitches with the current Routine Spectroscopy interface and the irritation this causes, but these things are going to be soon over.

• We have landed a long awaited instrument grant that will get a state of the art 500 MHz spectrometer with robotic multi-sample handler and cryo-cooled probe with automatic tuning/matching.  We expect this unit to arrive in a couple of months. This will replace the GG500.
• GG500 console will replace the AV500 console, which will be retired. We will also get a brand new probehead for this instrument that is capable of computerized tuning/matching.  No more tuning/matching by hand will be necessary.
• Both these vastly improved hardware will be driven by a sleek and responsive Bruker Automation software that will be far superior to the current clunky Routine Spectroscopy interface of GG500.
• The new interface will provide the full functionality of the spectrometers, where, everyone from novice to Jedi masters of NMR can exploit the features to one’s heart’s content.

I will introduce the new hardware and software as well as changes that come with it in more detail soon, in other posts.

In the meantime, we will strive to provide workarounds to the existing issues with the GG500 so that you can still obtain the needed spectra from this console.

COMMUNICATION IS CRUCIAL

At this point, I cannot overemphasize this enough.  It is vital that you keep an open communication directly with the NMR staff in a timely manner and let us know what challenges you encounter.  Log book entries, email or phone as well as knock on our doors are welcome.  If you have a specific experiment in mind or a special modification is needed, please contact us. Do not ASSUME that the current setup is incapable of it.

Thank you for your cooperation !

NMR Facility Manager

9/16/2022