March 18, 2011 - 10:58am
The Chemistry Department has been awarded a NIH Shared Instrumentation Grant to obtain a new state-of-the-art single-crystal X-ray diffractometer with a Copper micro-focus X-ray source. This new Diffractometer will add significant new capabilities to our X-ray Diffraction Facility by providing structures from smaller crystals, by providing faster turn-around time on synthetic intermediates, by solving absolute configurations of samples without heavy atoms, and providing the capability to study protein crystals. The instrument will support a variety of NIH-supported research projects involving medicinal chemistry, diversity-oriented synthesis, library synthesis, synthetic methodology, sensor synthesis, natural products synthesis, and synthesis of peptides and oligosaccharides. Biomedically-relevant research areas in the Chemistry Department which will benefit include drug discovery, biological probe discovery, new methods for drug synthesis, analysis of biological milieu, and understanding and imitation of important biomolecules. The purchase and installation of the new instrument will be coordinated by Dr. Steven Geib (X-ray facility director), Prof. Nathaniel Rosi (X-ray facility faculty overseer), and Prof. Dennis Curran (Principle Investigator on the proposal).