Powerful Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Capabilities Promise Advantages for Researchers Across the Sciences

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is among the most widely applicable analytical techniques available in science today. Researchers with diverse interests, ranging from metabolomics to geosciences, have benefited from NMR spectroscopy’s ability to provide crucial information about molecules and complex mixtures.

NMR technology harnesses the power of superconducting magnets and capitalizes on the unique magnetic properties of specific atomic nuclei to characterize the structure, dynamics, and interactions of molecules and complex mixtures. NMR spectrometers record the behavior of certain atomic nuclei (e.g., ¹H, ¹³C, ¹⁵N, and ³¹P) as they are subjected to the spectrometer’s external magnetic field and excited by pulses of radiofrequency energy called perturbations. Based on a sample’s response to these perturbations, researchers can then analyze data about an array of features, such as characterizing the structure and dynamics of certain proteins involved in viral replication or comparing how carbon is allocated and stored differently in some plants under normal versus drought conditions.

The Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL), a Department of Energy Office of Science user facility at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), boasts a large fleet of leading-edge NMR instrumentation and NMR specialists. These resources are available to researchers through a simple proposal process. Additional NMR spectrometers exist within PNNL research directorates and are used by scientists there.

EMSL’s advanced technology and expertise will be on display in a free webinar at noon, Pacific daylight time, on October 26, 2022. At this event, researchers will share how both solid- and liquid-state NMR can be used to solve complex scientific problems. EMSL chemist Andrew Lipton will discuss solid-state NMR techniques for analyzing crystalline or amorphous materials. Chaevien Clendinen, also a chemist at EMSL, will demonstrate how to use liquids NMR in quantitative analysis for metabolomics. PNNL chemists John Cort and Garry Buchko will provide guidance on NMR for small molecule structure determination, including natural products and various metabolites, and on using NMR to characterize the structure, dynamics, and interactions of biological macromolecules, such as proteins and nucleic acids.

Advantages to using NMR

For more than 60 years, NMR spectroscopy has enabled researchers to advance scientific discovery and remains a preeminent technique for understanding molecules and complex mixtures. According to Lipton, one of the major advantages of NMR spectroscopy is that it is a nondestructive method. As a result, users can analyze a precious sample using NMR instruments and keep it intact for subsequent experiments that consume the sample. He also highlights how solid-state NMR capabilities enable in situ analysis of samples that are not amenable to other techniques, such as plant tissues and mineral-bound organics.

Clendinen praises NMR spectrometry for its value in understanding the fate of specific molecules. “It is one of the only techniques to quantitatively identify where an isotope is incorporated,” explains Clendinen. “NMR is a straightforward method to get specific and quantitative information about the level of incorporation.” This can be particularly valuable for scientific questions involving carbon and nitrogen cycling as well as isotope tracing studies.

Benefits of EMSL’s NMR capabilities

EMSL’s robust NMR capabilities support a wide range of the lab’s Integrated Research Platforms, including Biomolecular Pathways, Cell Signaling and Communications, Terrestrial-Atmosphere Processes, Biogeochemical Transformations, Structural Biology, and Rhizosphere Function. EMSL is distinctive for housing solid- and liquid-state NMR for structural biology, metabolomics and natural products, and organic matter and complex mixtures under a single roof. Nine spectrometers are available to users, with high-field superconducting magnets ranging from 7 T (300 MHz, ¹H) to 20 T (850 MHz, ¹H). This means the facility can analyze an enormous variety of sample types and expose the same sample to multiple experimental conditions. Buchko says the ability to collect data from instruments with different field strengths is one of EMSL’s major draws for potential users. Some nuclei will behave differently under different field strengths, and EMSL allows researchers to efficiently collect and compare data.

NMR also provides an excellent complement to other techniques. “A global look at a sample requires using as many technologies as you can,” says Clendinen. EMSL also offers access to mass spectrometry and chemical imaging and additional NMR equipment. This enables researchers to study samples with multiple techniques and to collaborate with scientists with diverse expertise.

The benefit to users is not limited to EMSL’s leading-edge equipment. According to Clendinen, EMSL’s greatest strength may be the depth and breadth of expertise available to researchers. Buchko agrees, noting that solid-state NMR can require more specialized expertise and that EMSL provides “people to help optimize collection of data, speed the process, and analyze data.” Clendinen and Lipton similarly highlight the wide range of knowledge held by EMSL instrument owners as benefits to facility users. As Lipton describes, one of the goals of EMSL’s user facility is to “bring our strengths to everyone else’s problems.”

Learn more about NMR capabilities on October 26, 2022 at the EMSL Learn Webinar Series presentation.