The Russell Varian Prize 2010: call for nominations

The Russell Varian prize honors the memory of the pioneer behind the first commercial Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectrometers and co-founder of Varian Associates. The prize is awarded to a researcher based on a single innovative contribution (a single paper, patent, lecture, or piece of hardware) that has proven of high and broad impact on state-of-the-art NMR technology. The prize aims to award the initial contribution that laid the ground for the specific technology of great importance in state-of-the-art NMR. It is sponsored by Varian Inc. and carries a monetary award of 15,000 Euro. The award ceremony will take place at the XXIVth ICMRBS meeting in Cairns, Australia, August 22-27, 2010. The deadline for nominations is February 15, 2010.

For nomination guidelines see Varian

Recognition: Andre Simpson

Andre Simpson (University of Toronto) is the recipient of the 2010 CSC Fred Beamish Award. This award is presented to individuals who demonstrate innovation in research in the field of Analytical Chemistry, in particular, where research is anticipated to have significant potential for practical applications.

Web: Andre Simpson's Group at the University of Toronto Scarborough

Cover article in the Journal of Physical Chemistry

Crystalline beta-Barium Borate is an important nonlinear optical material often used in frequency mixing. Interestingly enough, even though beta-Barium Borate has been known for years, there still exists a controversy about its true crystallographic space group. That is existed until now! In this cover article in the Journal of Physical Chemistry C a research team from the University of Western Ontario has solved this problem using ultrahigh-field solid-state NMR spectroscopy and quantum chemical calculations.

Andre Sutrisno, Cheng Lu, Robert Lipson, Yining Huang, "Combined 135/137Ba Solid-state NMR at an Ultrahigh Magnetic Field and Computational Study of beta-Barium Borate," Journal of Physical Chemistry C 113 (2009) 21196–21201. (Cover Article) http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jp9044786

This is a seventh cover article featuring results obtained using resources of the National Ultrahigh-Field NMR Facility for Solids. See our cover gallery and the complete list of research publications enabled by the Facility here (complete list).

Cover article in Nature Chemistry

A research team from the University of Calgary and the NRC Steacie Institute for Molecular Sciences (Ottawa) has published a cover article in Nature Chemistry

J.A. Hurd, R. Vaidhyanathan, V. Thangadurai, C.I. Ratcliffe, I.L. Moudrakovski and G.K.H. Shimizu, "Proton Conduction at 150°C in a Nanoporous Metal-Organic Framework," Nature Chemistry 1 (2009) 705-710. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nchem.402

"Materials built from metal centres and organic ligands have traditionally attracted attention for their channels' host–guest properties. Now, controlling the occupancy of the channels by guest molecules has resulted in a framework that conducts protons under anhydrous conditions and acts as a gas-tight membrane, offering a promising approach to fuel-cell electrolytes."

Solid-state NMR spectroscopy was instrumental in this research.

The paper is also accompanied by the Nature's commentary:

Hiroshi Kitagawa, "Metal–organic frameworks: Transported into fuel cells," Nature Chemistry 1 (2009) 689-690. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nchem.454

Feature article: Concepts in Magnetic Resonance

R.M. Gregory, A.D. Bain, "The effects of finite rectangular pulses in NMR: Phase and intensity distortions for a spin-1/2," Concepts in Magnetic Resonance Part A 34A (2009) 305-314. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cmr.a.20147

Abstract

Pulses in NMR spectrometers have a finite length, but the usual hard-pulse assumption ignores it, and treats the pulse as a rotation of the frame of reference about the direction of the radiofrequency (RF) magnetic field. However, at frequency offsets comparable to the size of the RF field, there are substantial distortions, mainly in the phase of the signal. This effect is well known and can be easily calculated to show that, despite the complex geometry, the phase distortion is almost linear with the offset. This means that it can be corrected by a first-order phase correction or by small corrections to pulse-sequence timing. In this article, we give an analysis of these effects. The deviations from a linear phase correction are analyzed for a general rectangular pulse and illustrated with experimental spectra. The split-operator approximation for the evolution of this system provides a mathematical foundation and a useful method for this analysis. Furthermore, the relationship between the exact behavior of a signal is compared to the Fourier transform of a rectangular pulse. For typical offsets, the match between these approaches is not good, but it improves as the offset increases. Overall, the detailed analysis of the finite pulse effects gives exact results of the response of a spin system, but also some mathematical and physical insights.

CSC 2010: call for papers

The 93rd Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition (CSC2010) is being held in Toronto, May 29-June 2, 2010. The conference theme “Diversity in Chemistry” emphasizes the wide range of science to be presented and the diversity of people that make up our field. The conference is presented by the Canadian Society for Chemistry and hosted by the Department of Chemistry of the University of Toronto. You can view the wide range of symposia representing the “Diversity in Chemistry” theme on the CSC2010 website

http://www.csc2010.ca/program/symposia.html

The CSC 2010 conference will feature the "Solid-State NMR: Methods and Applications" symposium being organized by David Bryce (University of Ottawa) and Gillian Goward (McMaster University).

The Call for Papers opened today December 1, 2009 and will close February 15, 2010. Details are available at
http://www.csc2010.ca/program/submit_abstract.html

Canadian NMR jobs

There are currently three post-doctoral NMR vacancies available at the University of Toronto. Two of them have their application deadlines fast approaching. Don't be late. For more information and to see other NMR job postings visit our NMR jobs page.

"Canadian NMR Research" News Bulletin

the Fall 2009 Issue of the "Canadian NMR Research" news bulletin is now available for download.

You are welcome to share it with your colleagues and students.

Thanks for reading!

NMR-3 Fall NMR Workshop

the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Research Resource (NMR-3) (Dalhousie University, Halifax) invites you to take part in the 4th Annual Fall NMR Workshop on Saturday, November 14, 2009 in the Chemistry Building.

The workshop will consist of seminars from NMR-3 staff emphasizing practical aspects of NMR, contributed oral and poster presentations from NMR-3 users, Facility tours with detailed introduction to research methods. A detailed agenda will be distributed later, but the event is planned to begin at 9:00 AM with registration and conclude by 5:00 PM. Lunch and coffee-breaks will be provided, and there is no registration fee.

The registration deadline is Friday, November 6. For more information and to register http://armrc.chemistry.dal.ca/workshop.htm

2008-2009 Annual Report

the 2008/09 Annual Report of the National Ultrahigh-Field NMR Facility for Solids has been finalized and is now available for download. We will start mailing printed copies shortly.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our users and clients, as well as our partners and funding agencies for continuing support.

NMR Books

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy of Liquid Crystals

edited by Ronald Dong (University of British Columbia)
Hardcover: 464 pages
Publisher: World Scientific; September 2009
Language: English
ISBN: 978-981-4273-66-4
http://www.worldscibooks.com/materialsci/7310.html

World Scientific: "This edited volume provides an extensive overview of how nuclear magnetic resonance can be an indispensable tool to investigate molecular ordering, phase structure, and dynamics in complex anisotropic phases formed by liquid crystalline materials. The chapters, written by prominent scientists in their field of expertise, provide a state-of-the-art scene of developments in liquid crystal research. The fantastic assortment of shape anisotropy in organic molecules leads to the discoveries of interesting new soft materials made at a rapid rate which not only inject impetus to address the fundamental physical and chemical phenomena, but also the potential applications in memory, sensor and display devices. The review volume also covers topics ranging from solute studies of molecules in nematics and biologically ordered fluids to theoretical approaches in treating elastic and viscous properties of liquid crystals. This volume is aimed at graduate students, novices and experts alike, and provides an excellent reference material for readers interested in the liquid crystal research. It is, indeed, a reference book for every science library to have."

Pacifichem 2010

The International Chemical Congress of Pacific Basin Societies, December 15-20, 2010, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, http://www.pacifichem.org/

NMR Spectroscopy of Polymers (Symposium #12) Peter Macdonald, University of Toronto

Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics - Recent Advances in NMR (Symposium #43) Mitsuhiko Ikura, Ontario Cancer Institute

Advances in Solid-State NMR of Biological Molecules (Symposium #58) Michèle Auger, Université Laval

Solid-State NMR Methods and Applications in Inorganic Materials (Symposium #228) Scott Kroeker, University of Manitoba

ACS: National Chemistry Week 2009

ACS Publications celebrates National Chemistry Week 2009, October 19-24, by providing one-week free access to the ACS Symposium Series Online including Advances in Chemistry books. Don't miss this opportunity to browse and download many attention-worthy review articles free of charge.

Among most recent NMR titles are "Modern NMR Spectroscopy in Education" (Eds. D. Rovnyak and R. Stockland, 2007), and "Solid-State NMR Spectroscopy of Inorganic Materials" (Ed. J.J. Fitzgerald, 1999).

51st ENC: nominations for the Laukien Prize

The Laukien Prize was established in 1999 to honor the memory of Professor Gunther Laukien, a co-founder of Bruker BioSpin. The Laukien Prize carries a monetary award of $20,000 funded by Bruker BioSpin and is intended to recognize cutting-edge experimental NMR research with a high probability of enabling beneficial new applications. The Prize recipient will also deliver the opening Plenary lecture at the ENC conference.

Nominations for the Laukien Prize are now being accepted. The award will be announced at the next ENC.

The nominated work should be published within the last three years. In some special cases, the award may be for cumulative achievements over a longer period. Nominations should be submitted by October 30.

For more information and for the list of past Laukien Prize recipients
http://enc-conference.org/Default.aspx?tabid=31

51st ENC
April 18-23, 2010, Hilton Hotel, Daytona Beach, FL
Talk abstracts deadline January 12, 2010
Poster abstracts deadline March 12, 2010
http://www.enc-conference.org/

Feature article in Physics Today

Clare Grey and Robert Tycko have published an article in the September issue of Physics Today introducing solid-state NMR spectroscopy to a broader audience, and reviewing recent NMR applications in biochemistry and materials sciences. This article is an easy read about a complicated topic with many colour figures and diagrams, which your students may find useful in their studies.

Clare P. Grey and Robert Tycko, "Solid-state NMR in biological and materials physics," Physics Today 62 (2009) 44-49. http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3226855

MOOT XXII Symposium

Dear All,

Registration for MOOT XXII in Ottawa is still open and will be so until Wednesday, October 14. This is the deadline for having final numbers for caterers, banquet etc.

No more oral presenation will be accepted since the program is filled up with very interesting talks. Poster presentations will be accepted all the way to the end and the program will updated as they come.

The Suraj Manrao Traval Award will contribute three 50$ awards for the best three posters from graduate students. Great many thanks to Suraj!

Check the website www.mootnmr.org for all information regarding maps how the get around and updates of the program.

If people are interested in gathering someplace for dinner and drinks on Friday night please let me know and we can arrange something.

I am looking forward to see you all in Ottawa in less than a couple of weeks,

Yves

Professor Laurance Hall (1938-2009)

Professor Laurance Hall, an NMR pioneer credited with building the first clinical MRI instrument in Canada, died on August 28, 2009 in Cambridge, UK aged 71.

From the Telegraph (Oct.1, 2009): "... It was during this period that Hall began to pursue his pioneering work on NMR – an interest which he took with him, on completion of his doctorate, to Canada. An eloquent and extremely enthusiastic lecturer, he easily impressed senior professors, soon securing a research post in Ottawa, and later one in Vancouver. At the Chemistry Department of the University of British Columbia, where he spent two decades (1963-84), he built – from scratch – the first MRI instrument in Canada. Later he installed for the country its first MRI scanner large enough to examine the entire human body – in a clinic opened by the Queen."

Read the complete obituary in the Telegraph.

Laurance Hall reminisces about his early research career and his work at the University of Ottawa, NRC Canada, and the University of British Columbia, in the Encyclopedia of Magnetic Resonance, Volume 1 "Historical Perspectives", Eds. Grant & Harris, Wiley, 1996, p. 378-382.

Recognition: Lewis Kay

The University of Alberta honours Lewis Kay with the Distinguished Alumnus Award (more).

From the citation: "One of the world's leading biochemists, Kay is recognized for his cutting-edge research in biomolecular nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The University of Toronto professor and researcher has been instrumental in developing new three- and four-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance methods for obtaining pictures of complex biomolecules. This revolutionary work has led to important discoveries, helping researchers understand the underlying biological characteristics of diseases. This understanding has increased the probability of finding ways to cure or prevent diseases such as cancer."

Don't miss the video profile of Distinguished Alumnus Lewis Kay (5 min, 23.1 MB .mov)

Web: Lewis Kay's Group at the University of Toronto

The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

Beginning in January 2010 all letters from the Journal of Physical Chemistry A, B, and C will be combined into a single, all-electronic journal the Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters highlighting the most urgent research results in physical chemistry. The first letters will be published online in November 2009, the issue 1 will be launched in January 2010. Letters published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters will have a full citation, including page numbers, when posted on the web as ASAP articles and prior to being collected in an issue. This feature will allow your letter to be fully cited at least 2 weeks earlier than previously possible.

Before submitting your letter be advised that the format of J. Phys. Chem. Lett. is different from J. Phys. Chem. A/B/C. For more details see the Author Submission Guidelines.