MRI: Track 1 Acquisition of a Single Crystal X-Ray Diffractometer for Chemical and Biological Structure Determination

This award is jointly funded by the Major Research Instrumentation Program, the Chemistry Research Instrumentation Program, and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). The University of Nevada, Reno is purchasing a single crystal diffractometer equipped with copper and molybdenum sources to support the research of Professor Ana de Bettencourt-Dias with colleagues Yftah Tal-Gan and Christopher Jeffrey. This instrument facilitates research in luminescent materials and f element chemistry, bacterial communication and quorum sensing, chemical ecology, and natural products chemistry. In general, an X-ray diffractometer allows accurate and precise measurements of the full three-dimensional structure of a molecule, including bond distances and angles, and provides accurate information about the spatial arrangement of a molecule relative to neighboring molecules. The features of this instrument enhance the research efforts of faculty and students; it is also successfully deployed as part of the teaching efforts of students at all levels in many departments at the University of Nevada, Reno and in teaching and outreach in the Northern Nevada region. Most notably, students from area high schools learn about the technique, and the history of its development, and have access to determine the structure of simple compounds isolated as part of their science curriculum. The award is aimed at enhancing research and education at all levels. The research enabled by the acquisition of this instrument spans a wide range of areas in chemistry, biochemistry, biology and materials science, namely, luminescent materials, f element chemistry, bacterial communication and quorum sensing, chemical ecology, organometallic chemistry and catalysis, medicinal chemistry, molecular materials for electronics applications, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, sensors, theranostics, f element separation, metallacycles, biological activity of polyacetylenes, biopolymers, plant cell wall biology and muscle proteins. The availability of the instrument with dual copper and molybdenum sources allows the research groups to gain insights from the structural characterization of small molecules, macromolecules and metalorganic frameworks, and the determination of absolute structure of light-atom molecules. These further our knowledge in the areas mentioned above, and the structural information collected cannot be accessed by any other technique. The research of a total of 16 investigators and their research groups spanning 5 institutions, which include 2 NSF CAREER recipients, 4 junior, 5 female and 4 Hispanic investigators, is impacted by the availability of the instrument. Students from varied socio-economic backgrounds have access to a technique that is not usually part of the undergraduate curriculum, which provides them with an important marketable skill. In addition, a collaboration with a local school provides high school seniors with a more in-depth understanding of the importance of structural characterization in the sciences. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.