ATHENS, WV (WOAY) – The chemistry program in Concord University’s Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences has installed a major new laboratory instrument for teaching and research. The instrument allows students to use Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy (NMR) to accurately determine the chemical structure of organic compounds.
NMR is commonly used in the pharmaceutical and chemistry workforce for basic research, product design, and quality control in production facilities. With the addition of NMR to Concord’s instrumental chemistry laboratories, students will gain additional hands-on, career-focused skills. It will also help students learn to visualize the results of their experiments.
The instrument will be widely used in organic chemistry, a second-year course taken by Concord’s chemistry and biochemistry majors, molecular biology majors, and others pursuing studies in pre-medicine, pre-pharmacy, and health sciences. Advanced students will use it for drug-development research and independent projects.
The NMR was funded by a $40,000 Innovation Grant from West Virginia Science and Research, a division of the Higher Education Policy Commission. Dr. Hong Yin served as principal investigator on the grant proposal with two department colleagues.
“The NMR will be incorporated into lab classes for organic synthesis,” she stated. “Students will now have the opportunity to learn how to prepare samples, operate the spectrometer, acquire data, decode spectra, and identify unknown molecules produced during chemical reactions.”
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