NMR Facility
The Department of Chemistry’s Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Facility is a world-class resource offering exceptional instrumental capabilities and experimental versatility. Spanning 2,600 square feet, the Facility’s infrastructure is constructed of specialized aluminum and non-magnetizable stainless steel to accommodate its sensitive instrumentation.
The Facility plays a central role in supporting a broad range of research programs, serving nearly 300 users across the Department of Chemistry and other departments at Princeton University, as well as local companies participating in the Department’s Industrial Associates Program.We maintain seven state-of-the-art liquid-state NMR spectrometers, each configured to address the specific needs of our research community, with a high degree of automation enabling high-throughput, 24/7 operation.
The instrument suite includes spectrometers operating at 300 MHz, 400 MHz, 800 MHz, and four at 500 MHz, equipped with two or three RF channels. Most systems utilize NEO consoles and are fitted with modern 60-seat SampleCase autosamplers. Collectively, these instruments enable detection of a wide range of nuclei — including ¹H, ¹³C, ¹⁵N, ³¹P, ²⁹Si, ¹⁹F, ¹¹B, ⁷Li, ²H, ¹⁴N, and others — across an extensive range of temperature-controlled conditions.
Three of the 500 MHz spectrometers are equipped with helium-cooled cryoprobes, each with a distinct configuration: a TCI probe (A1), a tunable multinuclear probe (A2), and a specialized ¹³C-detection-optimized CH DUAL probe (A3). A high-power multinuclear diffusion probe (up to 1,700 G/cm) is also available for the A2 instrument. The 800 MHz spectrometer is equipped with a specialized 3 mm TCI cryoprobe, with a custom 5 mm QCI-F probe available upon request. The 400 MHz instrument features a nitrogen-cooled Prodigy BBF cryoprobe and a SampleXpress autosampler. An additional 500 MHz instrument is equipped with an Avance III HD console, a BBFO room-temperature probe, and two HR-MAS probes (H/C/¹⁵N and H/C/¹⁴N, respectively).
All spectrometers are available for walk-up use and benefit from full automation. Expert assistance is available from Ken Conover (NMR Specialist) and Dr. István Pelczer (Lecturer and Director, NMR Facility) for experiment design, data processing, analysis, and interpretation. Every instrument is controlled by the latest TopSpin software and supports a comprehensive range of 1D and 2D/nD correlation experiments; routine water suppression is standard. Liquid-state instruments are integrated with ICONNMR automation interfaces, and MestReNova or the processing-only version of TopSpin serve as the default processing software. For advanced multidimensional data processing, analysis, and modeling, we recommend NMRPipe and X-PLOR-NIH, among the many robust software tools available for structure determination. Upon completion of an experiment, users may securely download their data to a personal computer via the university’s remote data server. Campus-wide licenses for MNova (MestreLab)/Modgraph are also provided to support offline data processing.
The NMR Facility additionally houses and maintains a state-of-the-art 400 MHz solid-state NMR instrument, featuring a NEO console and a klystron-based Dynamic Nuclear Polarization (DNP) accessory. The instrument is equipped with two probes for conventional solid-state NMR applications, accommodating 3.2 mm and 1.3 mm rotors, respectively. The 3.2 mm probe is a dual-channel, tunable multinuclear probe, while the 1.3 mm probe offers triple-resonance capability with multiple nuclei accessible via interchangeable inserts — a configuration that continues to expand. The 3.2 mm rotor achieves speeds of up to 25 kHz, while the 1.3 mm rotor has been tested beyond 60 kHz, enabling sophisticated proton-detected experiments. Both probes support a broad range of temperature control. DNP-based signal enhancement can exceed 100-fold, substantially reducing experiment time and enabling analysis of low-sensitivity nuclei or very small sample quantities. Standard operation occurs at 100 K using nitrogen cooling, supported by a state-of-the-art, third-generation temperature controller.
The Facility’s instrumentation has been supported through funding from Princeton University and the Department of Chemistry, with ongoing operations sustained through user fees based on experiment time.