Console solid-state NMR 400 MHz

• Subject Area: Basic Research in Biology and Medicine
• Term: Funded in 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 527030253

The proposed replacement console for an existing 400 MHz solid-state NMR spectrometer including controls for a gradient system for the measurement of diffusion coefficients is the central research instrument of the NMR department at the Institute of Physics of the Martin-Luther-University Halle. The instrument is used to address research questions in the area of structure and dynamics in soft condensed matter, especially in synthetic and biological polymer systems as well as in lipid membranes. In the area of synthetic polymers, structure-dynamics-property relations are explored using a combination of NMR methods (1H time-domain NMR, relaxometry, broad-line spectroscopy, multidimensional NMR, high-resolution solid-state NMR, diffusometry), while proteins in the solid state are primarily the domain of high-resolution and multidimensional methods. Ongoing projects in the field of synthetic polymers deal with orientational ordering in stretched polymer glasses, network mesh structure and transport phenomenon in different types of polymer networks and gels, dynamics in polymer nanocomposites, and structure formation and dynamics in semi-crystalline polymers. In the field of biological macromolecules, the focus is on rotational and translational diffusion in transiently assembling proteins (including those from the eye lens) and global rocking motions of proteins in the solid state. In lipid membranes, molecular dynamics are characterized with high accuracy and matched with computer simulations; furthermore, they serve as confining geometry for polymer crystallization. Planned future projects will pursue global protein dynamics upon liquid-liquid phase separation, an extension of work on the coupling of protein dynamics and packing in the solid state, elucidation of the microstructure and aging behavior of filled elastomer blends, relaxation mechanisms in associating polymers, the dynamics and crystallization of new polyesters and vitrimers, and dynamics in more complex biological membrane systems.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: Konsole Festkörper-NMR 400 MHz
• Instrumentation Group: 1741 Festkörper-NMR-Spektrometer
• Applicant Institution: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg
• Leader: Professor Dr. Kay Saalwächter, Ph.D.