This blog post is designed to help students with the NMR experimental components associated with Project 3 – Keto-Enol Chemical Equilibrium and Kinetics in ASU-Online CHM343 (Physical Chemistry Laboratory). The pdf handout for this remote lab is provided below:
Remote NMR Access
The magnetic resonance research center (MRRC) at ASU has NMR instruments designed for remote access, monitoring and full control of experiments. For remote researchers, samples are shipped to the scientific staff in the MRRC at ASU and they assist with getting sample handling and loading into the autosampler NMR systems. For remote students, samples are typically made and put into the autosampler NMR system. The details of which are provided to researchers and/or students. As an example, a section below provides details about a set of samples made and put into the autosampler for CHM343 remote students (in fall 2021).
There are several ways to remotely access NMR spectrometers in the ASU MRRC. The most common is through virtual network computing (VNC) and the current recommended client is AnyDesk (or NoMachine). The connect details and monthly changed access password is provided to all ASU Online Students enrolled in pchem lab (email: biopchem@gmail.com) and all registered researchers who are shipping samples (email: mrrc@asu.edu).
A screencast using AnyDesk to access the automated 400 MHz Bruker NMR system in Fall 2021 for CHM343 students is provided below:
Remotely ‘Running’ NMR Experiments – Bruker’s Icon Automation NMR App
Bruker NMR systems commonly use TopSpin to control spectrometers, acquire data and process data. However, Bruker has developed Icon NMR for automation and this is therefore the software (application) that most remote users will use to interface with the remote NMR instrument. Icon NMR will typically be up and running when you connect to the remote computer. It is not advised that remote users reset, start or stop Icon NMR. If there is a problem, if Icon NMR ‘freezes’ up, etc, please leave a note on the computer screen and send an email to mrrc@asu.edu and/or biopchem@gmail.com and the MRRC staff will look into the issue ASAP. For more videos see below:
- Vimeo ASU-MRRC Showcase (Yarger Vimeo – ASU MRRC)
- https://vimeo.com/showcase/8778563 (Yarger Vimeo – CHM343)
NMR Data Processing and Analysis
When running a remote NMR system, there are typically systems in place for cloud uploading of the data that is collected. In the ASU-MRRC the primary system used is spintropy. However, it is also common to just log-in to a google drive, dropbox or other cloud account and copy your data to an accessible cloud account. In the case of ASU-Online CHM343, we transfer data that is collected by the instructors, staff and students to the ASUCHM343 google drive account (under Project 3). All students are given the ASUCHM343 (asuchm343@gmail.com) account password for the semester. Also, the BioPchem google drive keeps a copy of all remote experimental data as a backup. Some example data is provided below (and includes the ‘screencast’ data collected in the video above):
Bruker saves data and processes in a nested directory/folder structure and each ‘data set’ has been zipped for download above. You should be able to unzip each and open it in TopSpin or Mnova. Both these applications are freely available to ASU-Online students (myapps.asu.edu).
BioPchem 