Monday, March 24, 2008

May 14, 2007

Wine Analysis by NMR

Filed under: NMR, Process NMR, Chemistry — processn @ 6:38 pm

Brief Overview of Wine Analysis by 1H and 13C NMR

Wine analysis by 1H or 13C NMR can be used to follow acid content during maturation. Lactic, succininc and acetic acid can be followed readily by both techniques and presence of sugar, glycerol, and methanol can be observed.

Chemometric approaches are starting bear fruit with respect to quantitative analysis:

May 15, 2007

Omega-3 Dietary Supplements - NMR Analysis

Filed under: NMR, Chemistry — processn @ 7:39 am

Fish Oils - Flaxseed Oils

NMR is extensively utilized to analyze fish oils and edible oils high in omega-3 fatty acids.

Examples of 1H and 13C data and analysis are provided below:

13C NMR Analysis of Fish Oil Supplement

13C NMR of Flaxseed Oil Supplement

June 12, 2007

NMR Analysis of Jasmine Absolute - jasmine officinale - Egypt

Filed under: NMR — processn @ 12:51 pm

NMR analysis of Jasmine Absolute.

For more information on NMR of Essential Oils visit the PNA website.

October 5, 2007

The Wood-Based Biorefinery in a Petroleum Depleted World

Filed under: NMR, Process NMR, Energy, Chemistry — processn @ 1:08 pm

The Mid-Hudson Section of the American Chemical Society and Vassar College Announce

“The Wood-Based Biorefinery in a Petroleum Depleted World”

Dr. Arthur J. Stipanovic,

Professor and Chair, Department of Chemistry

State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF)

Wednesday, November 7th, 2007

Time: 7:00 pm

Location: Mudd Chemistry Building, Third Floor

Refreshments will be served at 6:30 pm

Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York

Contact: Dr Joseph Tanski (jotanski@vassar.edu, 845-437-7503)

Abstract: The 21st century is envisioned to become the “age of biology” as renewable biomass resources replace petroleum in energy and industrial product applications. Motivated by concerns over national energy security, global CO2 reduction, a need for biodegradable products, and enhanced rural economic development, the engineering and construction of “biorefineries” for the manufacture of fuels, chemicals, polymeric materials and power from renewable resources is now a critical national priority. The context and intent of a biorefinery must be much more than simply replacing crude oil with renewable raw materials. A successful biorefinery must: 1) efficiently separate its raw material source into individual components, and, 2) be able to convert these components into marketplace products. The biorefinery must mirror the efficiency of today’s modern petrochemical refinery in using all components of its raw material source for the production of chemicals, fuels, and power.

Woody “lignocellulosic” biomass is a complex, composite material consisting of three polymers in close association: hemicellulose, cellulose, and lignin plus small amounts of low molecular weight extractives and inorganics. In this presentation, a group of synergistic biomass feedstock and “biorefining” technologies under development at SUNY-ESF, in collaboration with many industrial and academic partners, will be discussed including: short-rotation fast growing willow production, biodelignification, hemicellulose extraction, polymer conversion to fermentable sugars, biodegradable thermoplastics and hemicellulose-based composites.

See the Stipanovic Website at SUNY_ESF for further details…..http://www.esf.edu/chemistry/faculty/stipanov.htm

Bio: Dr. Arthur J. Stipanovic is currently Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemistry at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF) in Syracuse , NY , and also serves as Director, Analytical and Technical Services. His research interests include biodegradable polymers from renewable resources, high-throughput analytical techniques for determining the composition of woody biomass and new processes for the wood-based biorefinery. Dr. Stipanovic received both his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees from SUNY-ESF in polymer chemistry and much of his career was spent at the Texaco R&D labs in Beacon, NY, in new technology and lubricants research. He is a past Councilor and Executive Board member of the Mid-Hudson ACS section and, more recently, has served as Chair of the Syracuse section.

Directions: Vassar College is located off Raymond Avenue in Poughkeepsie , NY. Refer to the following link for driving directions and campus map: http://www.vassar.edu/directions/. Enter the Main Entrance of the campus on Raymond Avenue and go right towards the Mudd Chemistry Building. The Security Guard at the Main Entrance will direct you to parking.

Process NMR Sessions at Eastern Analytical Symposium - November 14

Filed under: NMR — processn @ 1:26 pm

Eastern Analytical Symposium – November 12-15, 2007
Garden State Convention Center, Somerset, New Jersey

Process NMR Technology Sessions
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Chair: John Edwards, Process NMR Associates
Sponsored by Process NMR Associates

Process NMR Technology I: High-Resolution Studies

9:00 “Introduction to NMR in Process Control”
John Edwards, Process NMR Associates

9:25 “Standardizing and Stabilizing NMR Calibration Transfer”
Miko DeLevy, Qualion NMR Analyzers

9:50 “More from the Barrel – On-line NMR Increases Diesel Production and Quality”
Paul Giammatteo, Process NMR Associates

10:15 Break

10:35 “Taking NMR into the Refining Process: Best Practices and Benefits”
Marcus Trygstad, Invensys Process Systems

11:00 “Get Your Head Out of the Sand: Use of Reaction NMR to Better Understand Reactions in Process Development”
Andreas Kaerner, Eli Lilly

11:25 “Direct Prediction of Gasoline Properties for Monitoring Refinery Processes by H-1 NMR Spectroscopy”
Veena Bansal, Indian Oil Company

Process NMR Technology II: Time-Domain Studies
Chair: John Edwards, Process NMR Associates
Sponsored by Process NMR Associates

2:00 “Recent Developments in Time-domain NMR and Its Applications in Polymer Industry”
Harry Xie, Bruker Optics

2:25 “Time-domain NMR: Uses and Contributions to Process Control”
Vaughn Davis, Progression

2:50 “Recent Progress of NMR and MRI in Petroleum Exploration”
YiQiao Song, Schlumberger-Doll

3:15 Break

3:35 “Applications of Time-domain NMR to Laboratory and On-line Polymer Analysis”
Maziar Sardashti,ConocoPhillips

4:00 “Challenges in On-line Water Cut Monitoring of Heavy Oil Thermal Operations Using Low Field NMR”
Sergey Kryuchkov, University of Calgary

4:25 “Benchtop Fluoride NMR: A Rapid QC/QA Method”
Chris Borgia, Colgate-Palmolive

October 7, 2007

PNA Presentation at 9th Upstate NY NMR Symposium

Filed under: NMR, Process NMR — processn @ 8:35 am

State University of New York
College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF)
Syracuse, NY, 13210
Alumni Lounge– Marshall Hall
October 12, 2007

Co-Organizers

SUNY-ESF Syracuse University SUNY Upstate Medical University Bristol-Myers Squibb
Art Stipanovic Phil Borer Stewart Loh Doug Weaver
Dave Kiemle
Stephan Wilkens

Sponsors

  • SUNY-ESF
  • Syracuse University
  • Bruker Biospin
  • Bristol-Myers Squibb
  • Process NMR Associates LLC
  • Isotec
  • Cambridge Isotope Laboratories
  • Varian Inc.

The 9th annual Upstate NY NMR Symposium will be held at SUNY-ESF on Friday, October 12th featuring keynote speaker Professor Ruth E. Stark, Director Institute for Macromolecular Assemblies, CUNY. Others from around the region will also highlight their work in short presentations and posters.

  • Tentative oral presentation program
  • Poster session program (posted by 9/12)

There is no cost to attend this symposium due to the generosity of the sponsors listed above but pre-registration is required

Lodging arrangements have not been made for this symposium but a variety of options are available:

The conference will be held in the Alumni Lounge (a.k.a. Nifkin Lounge), Marshall Hall on the SUNY-ESF campus located adjacent to Syracuse University.

Parking has been arranged in the Irving Garage just a short walk from Marshall Hall (campus map).

Tentative Program

Time Place Speaker Title
8:00-9:10 AM Alumni Lounge
Marshall Hall
Check-In
Coffee + Bagels
Poster Setup
Posters on Display
9:15 Alumni Lounge Phil Borer
Syracuse University
Welcome
9:30 Thomas Szyperski
SUNY-Buffalo
Where do we stand on GFT projection NMR spectroscopy?
9:55 Yibing Wu
SUNY-Buffalo
GFT-NMR based high throughput structure determination exemplified for NESG targets NeT4 and SR500A
10:10 Arindam Ghosh
SUNY-Buffalo
NMR structure of NESG target MR32, a member of the family of Trm112p-like proteins
10:25 Bio-Break
10:35 David LeMaster Wadsworth Center - NYS Dept. of Health Electrostatic stabilization and general base catalysis in the active site of the human protein disulfide isomerasea domain monitored by hydrogen exchange
11:00 Joseph Hornack
RIT
The relaxivity of Gd-(DTPA-BMA) / Cu+2 mixtures and evidence for a Gd-(DTPA-BMA)-Cu complex.
11:25 Nelly Aranibar
Bristol-Myers Squibb
Metabolomics in Drug Discovery and development
11:50 Lunch
Poster Session

1:30 PM 140 Baker Lab Nikolaos Sgourakis
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Pressure Effects on the Ensemble Dynamics of ubiquitin at the Picosecond-to-Nanosecond timescale investigated with isotropic reorientational eigenmode dynamics
1:55 Paul Giammatteo or John Edwards
Process NMR Associates, LLC
New Developments in Non-traditional NMR Applications
2:25 George Crull
Bristol-Myers Squibb
Extending Solid State NMR to Address Process Development Issues
2:50 Gwen Lubey
P+G Pharmaceuticals
Solid State NMR Characterization of Risedronate Hydrate Forms and Dehydrated Risedronate
3:15 - Break
3:30 Keynote Lecture Prof. Ruth Stark
CUNY
NMR Structural Studies of Protective Plant Biopolymers

October 29, 2007

Process NMR Associates Develops Oxford QP-20 Spectrometer Replacement

Filed under: NMR, Process NMR — processn @ 5:29 pm

In a joint development effort Process NMR Associates and Resonance Systems Ltd have developed a replacement NMR spectrometer for the Oxford QP-20 TD-NMR analyzer. In many cases the excellent magnet and probe of the QP-20 continue to work effectively long after the NMR spectrometer has died. The Spin Track-20 spectrometer enables the user to completely replace the QP-20 NMR system while retaining the use of the original magnet and probe configuration. The product represents state-of-the-art digital NMR technology allowing newly developed TD-NMR methodologies to be applied to complex systems with all the advantages of a windows computer system (replacing the paper cartridge of the original system). Customers who have malfunctioning QP-20 NMR systems can obtain a modern digital NMR system within 8 weeks of order and for less than $16,000. The modular design of the Spin Track TD-NMR systems allows our engineers to develop replacement systems for all benchtop NMR systems such as those marketed by Oxford Instruments, Bruker Minispec, and Resonance Systems. Contact us if you have a non-functioning system that might be a candidate for the Spin Track upgrade.

For more information contact John Edwards Principal, Process NMR Associates - Spin Track Division
87A Sand Pit Rd, Danbury, CT 06810 U.S.A. Tel: (203) 744-5905

The RefinIR - FTIR-ATR Petroleum Product Analyzer

Filed under: Process NMR, Chemistry, IR-ATR — processn @ 5:32 pm

Press Release - NMR Process Systems - Gulf Coast Conference, Galveston Island, Texas - October 17, 2007

NMR Process Systems, LLC and Smith’s Detection Launch RefinIRTM - The New Refinery Products Analyzer

In a joint development effort NMR Process Systems and Smith’s Detection have developed a range of petroleum analyzer products based on a mid-infrared spectrometer which utilizes an attenuated total reflection (ATR) sample interface. The ATR allows wipe and swipe sample introduction that is ideal for heavy petroleum analysis. Chemometric approaches to chemical and physical property prediction have been developed as well as analysis by spectral database matching. The FTIR-ATR spectrometer is called the RefinIR which can be utilized in the laboratory for rountine, multi-parameter prediction of petroleum product properties or to aid in process troubleshooting on unusual samples or solid foulants.

For more information contact Paul Giammatteo Principal, NMR Process Systems

87A Sand Pit Rd, Danbury, CT 06810 U.S.A. Tel: (203) 744-5905

NPS - IS : A New Approach to Process Analytical

Filed under: NMR, Process NMR, TD-NMR, Energy, IR-ATR, Chemistry, NIR — processn @ 5:34 pm

Press Release - NMR Process Systems - Swagelok Technology Conference, Teaneck NJ - October 23, 2007

NMR Process Systems, LLC Announces : NPS-IS© - NPS – Integrated Solutions

NMR Process Systems (NPS) announces a new era in advanced analyzer and process control solutions for on-line and at-line process applications. NPS’s Integrated Solutions (NPS-IS©) approach is designed to take advanced on-line analysis to the next level in delivering real engineering and economic benefit to the user.

NPS-IS©: the first and original source for any and all on-line NMR applications regardless of NMR vendor.

NPS-IS©: the first to offer integrated advanced analytical solutions using multiple technologies “in one box”.

NPS-IS©: the first to offer a fully integrated Swagelok sampling solution for improved sample switching and reliable measurement.

Too many spectroscopic based on-line analyzer projects (FTIR, NIR, NMR) have failed to meet expectations and/or objectives due to:

· Overselling the measurement

· Underestimating the sampling requirements

· Trying to replace all traditional analyzers with one technique.

NMR Process Systems is positioned to deliver the real benefits of advanced analytical systems in petroleum, petrochemical, chemical, food and beverage and pharmaceutical applications. Moving beyond the traditional replacement analyzer philosophy, “NPS-IS©” integrating analyzers and advanced controls to deliver real process improvement and economic benefit. Such integration leverages the strength of any individual spectroscopy, shortens per stream analysis time, and builds in internal cross-checking to ensure accuracy.

For more information contact Paul Giammatteo Principal, NMR Process Systems

87A Sand Pit Rd, Danbury, CT 06810 U.S.A. Tel: (203) 744-5905

Schering-Plough Corporation Seeks Process Analytical Technology Manager

Filed under: NMR, Process NMR, IR-ATR, NIR, PAT — processn @ 8:58 pm

Title:
Process Analytical Technology (PAT) Manager

Description:
Implement Process Analytical Technology (PAT) throughout all the Global Quality Sites to identification of incoming materials and monitor manufacturing processes.
Work directly with the sites and Schering Plough Research Institute to help support / initiate the development, validation, and deployment of PAT at the sites.
Review, evaluate, implement, and manage PAT activities.
Provide guidance / technical help to the sites to conduct evaluation and purchase commercial PAT related analytical equipment (e.g. NIR / FT-NIR, Raman / FT-Raman, IR / FT - IR etc.).
Maintain analytical instruments in the lab to comply with cGMP standards and requirements.
Train and mentor laboratory staff on PAT to generate analytical data for routine experiments.
Generate network and infrastructures with various sites of the corporation.
Take full ownership / responsibility and provide effective, meaningful, result driven and pro-active leadership on all PAT projects.
Responsible to transfer knowledge / technology of PAT related projects and activities to sites. Job is located in New Jersey.

Respectfully, Vincent L. Graziano
Recruiting Manager / Global Staffing
Schering-Plough Corporation
556 Morris Avenue, S1-1
Summit, N.J. 07901
Ph: 908-473-2745
Fx: 908-473-2793
Ph: 908-298-5232 (Kenilworth)
Careers: Employment Opportunities
email: vincent.graziano@spcorp.com

January 28, 2008

Conjugated Diolefins Analysis by COSY NMR

Filed under: NMR, Chemistry — processn @ 8:51 pm

Conjugated diolefins are responsible for fouling of many processes in a refinery. COSY NMR analysis can determine the concentration of these species in many processed petroleum product streams….see PNA webs site.

Process NMR Associates - Archives - Gasoline Analysis by NMR and Chemometrics - ENC 1996

Filed under: NMR, Process NMR, Chemistry, NIR — processn @ 8:55 pm

Just came across an old presentation on gasoline analysis by NMR and chemometrics with direct comparisons to Mid-IR and NIR. Presented at the Experimental NMR Conference in March 1996….PDF (3 MB)

February 28, 2008

Process NMR Application: Spectro-Molecular Control for Enhanced Diesel Recovery

Filed under: NMR, Process NMR, Energy — processn @ 1:18 pm

NMR Process Systems – Integrated Solution

Application for Crude Unit and Downstream Processes:
Spectro-Molecular Control for Enhanced Diesel Recovery

NMR Process Systems’ (NPS) on-line NMR based analytical and process control strategy for enhanced diesel recovery at the crude distillation unit maximizes clean diesel recovery by enabling closer cut point control in the mid-section of the CDU.

Clean Fuels regulations in both the European and American markets have had a substantial impact on a refiner’s ability to maximize product draws at the refinery front end. Extremely low sulfur requirements for gasoline and diesel have resulted in refiners now being more constrained at the hydrotreaters. Lack of reliable, focused, measurement and control of critical CDU product draws has forced many refiners to significantly undercut these draws in order to ensure minimum error in the final product blends, especially with respect to total sulfur. Depending on a refinery’s crude supply and CDU capacity, a conservative estimate of 300-500+ barrels per day of loss diesel production is typical. With an average of $25-$35 per barrel margin loss, the economic impact of these Clean Fuels Regulations are substantial.

Integrating proven NMR technology with a focused measurement and control strategy enables crude unit operations to cut “chemically” closer to the hydrotreater constraint limit. The strength of NMR is that it quantitatively and accurately “observes” the chemistry of each refinery stream and readily relates that chemistry to chemically dependent parameters such as distillation, cetane, freeze points, etc. The NPS strategy is to cut and control CDU diesel production as closely to the dibenzothiophene distillation limit as possible. Figure 1 illustrates this strategy in terms of both current and proposed NMR based measurements.

Figure 1: Overall NMR measurement and control outline highlighting measurement/control strategies.

Enhanced Diesel Recovery

Let NMR Process Systems deliver “Spectro-Molecular” Control to your refinery so that you can achieve real economic and production benefits.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Process NMR Symposia to be held at EAS 2007

John Edwards of Process NMR Associates has organized and sponsored two symposium sessions at the Eastern Analytical Symposium in Somerset New Jersey, November 12-15, 2007. One session will focus on high-resolution process NMR and the other on applications of TD-NMR in process control. The speakers and talk titles are listed below. Check the EAS site for exact details on the date and time of the sessions (EAS website). If you are interested in attending and would like to submit a paper for presentation visit the EAS Abstract submission site.

Session Title: Process NMR Technology - High Resolution NMR

John Edwards, Process NMR Associates, “Introduction to NMR in Process Control”

Miko DeLevy, Qualion NMR Analyzers, “Standardizing and Stabilizing NMR Calibration Transfer”

Paul Giammatteo, NMR Process Systems, “More from the Barrel - On-line NMR Increases Diesel Production and Quality”

Marcus Trygstad, Invensys Process Systems, “Taking NMR into the Refining Process: Best Practices and Benefits”

Andreas Kaerner , Eli Lilly, “Get Your Head Out of the Sand: Use of Reaction-NMR to Better Understand Reactions in Process Development”

Veena Bansal, Indian Oil Corporation, “Direct Prediction of Gasoline Properties for Monitoring Refinery Processes by 1H NMR Spectroscopy”

Session Title: Process NMR Technology - TD-NMR

Harry Xie, Bruker Optics, “Recent Developments in Time-domain NMR and its Applications in Polymer Industry”

Vaughn Davis, Progression Inc, “Time Domain NMR: Uses and Contributions to Process Control”

YiQiao Song, Schlumberger-Doll, “Recent Progress of NMR and MRI in Petroleum Exploration”

Maziar Sardashti, ConocoPhillips, “Applications of TD NMR to Laboratory and On-line Polymer Analysis”

Sergey Kryuchkov, University of Calgary, “Challenges in Online Water Cut Monitoring of Heavy Oil Thermal Operations Using Low Field NMR”

Chris Borgia, Colgate Palmolive, “Benchtop Fluoride NMR: A Rapid QC/QA Method”


Trans Fat Analysis by NMR

A series of Trans Fat standards was purchased from AOCS. The ability of 1H and 13C NMR to predict Trans Fat Content as well as

Saturated, Poly-unsaturated, and Mono-unsaturated Fat Content

The data of the samples is presented in the table below:

PLS regression techniques were used to correlate 1H and 13C NMR spectral variation to the unsaturation level and type of unsaturation of the samples.

Processed 13C data is shown below:

1H NMR data is shown below:

The following correlations were obtained from the 13C NMR data.

NMR Analysis of Essential Oils - Example of Sri Lankan Citronella

The data below shows the ability of 13C NMR to assign the natural product distribution found in essential oils. Once assignment of the oil hgas been obtained by 13C NMR the 1H NMR can also be assigned. For QA/QC a benchtop 60 MHz system has enough resolution that authenticity of essential oils can be performed either visually of by PCA type analysis.

Ger - Geraniol GerAc - Geranyl Acetate iEugMe - Methylisoeugenol Bor - Borneol

aPin - alpha-pinene Lim - Limonene tOci - trans-beta-Ocimene Cen - Camphene

Cllo - Citronellol Clla - Citronellal GenD - Germacrene D aCal - Citral A (Geranial)

aTol - alpha-Terpiniol cOci - cis-beta-Ocimene Myr - Myrcene

Process NMR for Esterification Monitoring and Certification of Biodiesel

1H NMR has been used extensively to analyze biodiesel the vegetable oil feeds, reaction intermediates, and final products of the biodiesel esterification process.

See Oliviera et al, Talanta 69 (2006) 1278-1284 and Gnothe, J. Am. Oil Chem. Soc 78, 1025-1028 (2001)

The final biodiesel product is a B5 (5% Biodiesel) or B20 (20% Biodiesel) blend of biodiesel in refinery produced diesel fuel. Researchers have performed method developments to analyze the biodiesel content in diesel fuels by NIR using 1H NMR as the primary method to quantify the biodiesel content. (See Jin et al, Fuel 86(7-8), 1201-1207 (2007) and Knothe J. Am. Oil Chem. Soc. 77 489-493 (2001). Process NMR at 60 MHz can be used to quantify the biodiesel directly. Below is an example slide of a biodiesel 1H NMR spectrum compared to two different diesel fuel spectra.

The chemistry that is directly observed in the NMR spectrum as well as the distinct chemical regions that are present in the diesel and biodiesel make this analysis relatively straightforward. Chemometrics can be used or quantitation can be obtained directly from a simple spectral calibration.

Biodiesel Production Monitoring

NMR can be used to follow the reaction of biodiesel directly, the following slides show the steps in the esterification process.

Glycerol content in the biodiesel or unconverted vegetable oil content can be determined easily directly from the spectrum.

Expansion of Incomplete Reaction Series

Work is currently underway to develop NMR calibration models that can predict the various quality parameters specified in ASTM D6751 for biodiesel.

These calibrations, based on either 1H or 13C NMR, when validated would allow rapid testing of biodiesel production batches and would make complete analysis of small production batches economically feasible (there is no point making 300 gallons of biodiesel if you have to perform $2000 of testing on the batch).

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Flying J Selects On-Line NMR Technology from NMR Process Systems LLC for Clean Fuels Production and Expansion Program at Bakersfield Refinery

Press Release - NMR Process Systems - Danbury CT - January 19, 2007

As part of its announced multi-million dollar refinery improvement prog ram , Big West of California, LLC has selected NMR Process Systems LLC (NPS) to provide on-line NMR technology. The NPS integrated sampling and NMR analyzer system will enable the refinery to both increase its diesel production, as well as achieve quality targets needed for the new Clean Fuels Flying J will produce at it’s Bakersfield, CA, refinery. NPS’s NMR technology solutions, coupled with a Swagelok® sampling system, will perform simultaneous, multi-property diesel measurements required for process monitoring and control in the manufacturing of these new fuels. Installation is scheduled for the first quarter of 2007.

NMR Process Systems LLC, of Danbury, Connecticut (www.nmr-automation.com) is a process analytical technology and engineering services company, providing process analytical solutions to maximize plant and manufacturing operations in the refining, petrochemical, pharmaceutical and food industries. Solon, Ohio based Swagelok Company (www.swagelok.com) designs, manufactures, and delivers an expanding range of high-quality fluid system products and solutions.

Contact:
Paul J. Giammatteo
Product and Marketing Manager
NMR Process Systems, LLC
87A Sand Pit Road
Danbury, Connecticut 06810
Tel: +1-203-744-5905
paul@nmr-automation.com
www.nmr-automation.com

International Humic Substances Society

International Humic Substances Society – details on standard humic and fulvic acid isolation methods – standard materials – NMR reference data on standard materials.

NMR Meetings and Society Links

A few society websites to keep an eye out for meetings as well as a few meeting links that I have come across recently.

International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine

Clinical Magnetic Resonance Society

European Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine and Biology

Japanese Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine

Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance

Magnetic Resonance Managers Society

RSC NMR Discussion Group

Finnish NMR Discussion Group

Spanish Magnetic Resonance Society

Austrian NMR Discussion Group

Australian and New Zealand Society for Magnetic Resonance

German Magnetic Resonance Discussion Group

Italian Magnetic Resonance Discussion Group

49th Rocky Mountain Conference on Analytical Chemistry – July 22-26, 2007 – Beaver Run Resort, Breckenridge, Colorado

Society for Applied Spectroscopy
5th Alpine Conference on Solid-State NMR11th Brazilian NMR User Meeting / Workshop: NMR in
South America – May 7-11, Rio de Janeiro State, BrazilFor information please contact Sonia Cabral de Menezes

45th Annual Meeting of The NMR Society of Japan Nov. 22-24, Kyoto, Japan

MRS Symposium “Magnetic Resonance in Material Science” Nov. 27 – Dec. 1, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

For further NMR meeting info visit http://www.process-nmr.com/meetings_and_events%202006.htm

September 27, 2006

Interactive NMR Frequency Map With IUPAC NMR Data

A very useful NMR frequency/receptivity map from Alexej Jerschow at New York UniversityInteractive Map and Table

Excellent Article on “Mobilizing Magnetic Resonance” from Physics World

An excellent view on the latest new technologies appearing on the scene of mobile magnetic resonance. Though the review is fairly thorough in the “new technologies”, it does not mention the mobile permanent magnet based spectrometers currently availbale from Process NMR Associates. I don’t know why traditional mobile NMR instrumentation is repeatedly ignored in this arena. The perception is out there that NMR will always be expensive to buy, maintain and operate. The truth of the matter is that high-resolution NMR instrumentation should cost less than $100K and low field relaxometers should cost below $30K. Automation is possible for all aspects of NMR operation from locking, shimming, pulse sequence calibration, gain settings, and post processing procedures. I’d love to hear comment from people on this as I’ve been scratching my head for years as to why people aren’t interested in low field spectrometers anymore for undergraduate and industrial applications.

September 25, 2006

NMR of Earwax

Yet another masterpiece from tenderbutton – NMR of earwax.

September 19, 2006

EUROMAR 2007 - Magnetic Resonance Conference

The EUROMAR 2007 magnetic resonance conference will be held in Tarragona, Spain, July 1-6 at the Tarragona Trade-Fair and Congress Centre. Satellite meetings will be held on July 6.

September 15, 2006

SMASH Conference 2006: Multi-Sample MAS Probe

I was at the SMASH conference in Burlington Vermont earlier this week and the presentation of the week in my opinion was the multi-sample MAS probe poster by Nelson et al. This is a probe based on a patent (6,937,020) filed by Professor Eric Munson’s NMR group at the University of Kansas, and built by David Lewis of Revolution NMR. The concept involves stacking multiple MAS rotor housings in the probe head and then shuttling them into the central sweet spot of the magnet for acquisition via a pneumatic device attached at the base of the probe. The RF is switched between independent RF inputs and each housing has an independent tune/match capability. The idea is to increase throughput by allowing extra acquisitions to be obtained on other samples during the relaxation delays of the independent experiments.An excellent video demonstration is available on the webpage dedicated to the probe, as well as references to the patent and the journal article covering the development (“Multiple-sample probe for solid-state NMR studies of pharmaceuticals”, Solid State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance 29 (2006), 204 – 213). Commercial release is expected in 2007.

July 28, 2006

New CAPP NMR Method - Olefin Content of Crude Oils, Condensates, and Diluents by 1H NMR

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers has produced a test method to quantify olefins in crude oils, condenates and diluents. The method is particularly aimed at heavy oils and bitumens and their products that are not amenable to traditional olefin analysis. The method is published at the following link. We have developed many methods similar to this and have the ability to quantify and speciate the olefins present in the sample. The current CAPP method developed by the Canadian Crude Quality Technical Association (CCQTP) can be used to obtain total olefin content. Further NMR analysis and a few other experiments would allow some more detailed olefin chemistry distributions to be determined as well as observe the presence of conjugated diolefins that would be particularly troublesome in the processing of these materials. 1H NMR spectroscopy can be used very effectively to obtain many chemical and physical properties of crudes, heavy crudes, bitumen, and the distillate products that are produced by these materials. 1H NMR spectral correlation with these properties by PLS or non-linear PLS regression can yield extremely robust models, and for the chemical properties much more detailed chemical structure information can be obtained fro combining 13C NMR data with 1H NMR results.

CCQTP is an association with members that span multiple segments of the Canadian oil industry -it’s history, mission, and membership can be found at the site.

On a related note an excellent technical site dealing with crude oil quality issues cane be found at the Crude Oil Quality Group website, which is a consortium with the following membership, dedicated to developing test methods and quality standards for crude oil trading that go well beyond the traditional gravity and sulfur measurements currently used. There are many additives, processing fluids, corrosive materials that can be found in crude oils that can cause processing issues for the buyer who purchases simply based on density and sulfur. The group has made public much of it’s meeting agenda archives and the presentations given at those meetings. It is an interesting read for those interested in petroleum chemistry issues.

At PNA we have been developing some high field and low field NMR techniques, looking at chemistry and relaxation in crude oils with naphthenic acid and corrosion issues. We would be interested in hearing from anyone interested in woprking with us to develop a relatively straight forward method for NAN and TAN analysis by NMR methods.

Quantitative NMR

Found and interesting site touting quantitative NMR as a new concept….seems strange as 99% of the NMR work I have done is considered quantitative. There is a perception out there that 13C NMR is always qualitative. This has been confirmed to me in conversations with organic chemistry professors who will perform quantitative 1H NMR all day long and even justify higher magnetic field instruments based on lack of resolution in 1H data as they have the perception that 13C is purely qualitative and don’t think of the superior resolution and chemical shift information present in 13C spectra. The website is at qnmr.com, and contains an excellent petroleum chemistry example of the development of quantitative 13C NMR for aromaticity determination by Joe Ray, ex Amoco NMR researcher. There is also an excellent link to a paper on the quantitative NMR of natural products.

Excellent Solid-State NMR Overview at Durham University

There is an excellent overview of solid-state NMR at my alma mater Durham Univeristy in the UK. The page can be found at the following link.

July 21, 2006

What a day! Took my NMR home with me at the end of the day !

Yesterday started typically, ran a few 1H NMR for some customers, developed a low-field NMR method for diesel and kerosene hydrogen content correlated to aromaticity, try to run some fibers for moisture and spin-finish. Suddenly 5:30 loomed, the Mrs called to ask when I’d home for dinner ….. so rather than incur the wrath of the spouse by continuing late with the work, I simply picked up my NMR and went home with it. The new SpinTrack 20 MHz system is essentially a desktop computer sized console with a 6×6×6 inch magnet weighing 14 lbs. The whole shabang runs off a USB connection to my laptop. Thus …. I spent today completing the work from the comfort of my home office … Beautiful ! Tomorrow I might just carry the system upstairs, put it on the coffe table and acquire some more data while watching the Tour de France on TV. Not many people can say they take their NMR machines home with them at night. This could become a regular thing for me.

July 19, 2006

Interesting News on High Temperature Superconductor Systems

Surfing the web I came across a surprising announcement … it appears that Progression Systems is interested in developing a 80 MHz high temperature superconductor electromagent system to utilize in their process NMR business. Does this mean that Progression will be entering the high resolution NMR domain or raising the resonance frequency and sensitivity of nuclei other than proton (27Al, 23Na, 31P, etc.)? Below is the news bulletin from Industrial Research Ltd (News Bulletin found at: http://www.irl.cri.nz/newsandevents/Mediareleases/joint-venture-for-hts110.aspx).

Joint venture for HTS-110A new joint venture between HTS-110 and US company Progression Inc will provide customers with a unique high temperature superconducting (HTS) magnet capability.1 May 2006HTS-110 Limited, an affiliated company of Industrial Research, focuses on HTS solutions for medical, scientific, energy, defence, transport and industrial markets. Progression is a world leader in the development and implementation of process Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) technologies, Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) techniques, and Laser Induced Fluorescence (LIF) analysers for the mining, petrochemical, and polymer/polyolefin industries.

The new venture, Progression-HTS-110, will provide customers with unique high temperature superconducting (HTS) magnet capability. The new series of analyser will operate at 80MHz with the field strength of 2 Tesla generated by a HTS magnet.

Target markets for the analyser will include refining applications in the oil and gas industry, educational research and development, pharmaceutical and biochemistry applications.

Chief executive of Progression, Vaughn E. Davis, says the company is looking forward to working with HTS-110 Ltd and describes the deal as the perfect complementary vehicle to extend and build on the unique strengths of Progression’s leading market position in process NMR.

Chief executive of HTS-110, Dr Sohail Choudhry, says it is a strategic move to partner with Progression and extend HTS-110’s leading-edge technology into new markets.

“HTS is an advanced and rapidly developing new technology and we look forward to using that as a key driver for expanding the marketplace with Progression.

“Progression is an innovative company and we share a similar culture – that will work to our advantage and allow us to benefit from both our unique and complementary skills.”

It is anticipated the new company will be headquartered in Houston, Texas, under the leadership of Mr. Scott Simmons.

HTS-110 is a subsidiary company of Industrial Research Ltd – it’s HTS magnet technologies are described here.

Process NMR Technology Session Planned for Eastern Analytical Conference 2007

Press Release - NMR Process Systems - Danbury CT - February 14, 2007

Dr Edwards of Process NMR Associates has been asked to organize a session on Process NMR Technology at the Eastern Analytical Conference to be held at the Garden State Exhibit Center, November 12-15, 2007. Below is a copy of the Call for Papers sent out on February 14, 2007.

Hello to all,

I have been asked by Cecil Dybowski to chair a session on Process NMR Technology at the 2007 Eastern Analytical Symposium to be held November 12-15 at the New Jersey Garden State Exhibit Center in Somerset New Jersey. At this point I am putting out some feelers to gauge the level of interest that is out there amongst NMR practitioners in this field. I would like the session(s) to encompass both high resolution and time-domain applications of NMR in process control applications and at-line in manufacturing facilities in all industry sectors. The work can be actual on-line examples or laboratory based analysis being used to justify or prove applications before they are spun out to the plant. Developments in hardware, software and chemometrics would also be of general interest and to this end hardware talks on magnet and NMR-sensor development and their potential application would be encouraged. Fully automated NMR analysis in the laboratory that simply requires a technician to load the samples would also be considered as a valid topic.

The abstract deadline for EAS is April 15th. If you are interested in presenting a paper I would appreciate hearing from you by e-mail. Once I know how much interest is out there I will begin pulling the details together and have the speakers submit abstracts through the EAS website. For your information the EAS is the premier analytical meeting for the U.S. East coast and it has a website at http://www.eas.org. Also, as an introduction to the symposium itself, I am providing a link to the program chairs letter - http://www.eas.org/symposium/symposium.html

The distribution I have included in this e-mail are of persons and organizations that I know are working in this field. If you have any colleagues, customers, or acquaintances who you feel could provide a good presentation on their research or applications please feel free to forward this e-mail on to them, or inform me of their e-mail address and I will contact them.

I look forward to hearing from you and hope that you will join us in New Jersey,

Best Regards,

John

Contact : John Edwards, (203) 744-5905 E-Mail: john@process-nmr.com

Monday, July 17, 2006

July 17, 2006
Abstracts Available for Magnetic Resonance in Food Science Meeting
The Abstracts for the Posters and Speaker Sessions of the 8th International Conference on The Application of Magnetic Resonance in Food Science (July 16-19, 2006) can be found at the following locations – Poster Abstracts and Speaker Abstracts .

July 13, 2006
Stelar Develops New Benchtop FFC Spectrometer and Forms JV Company Invento
Stelar s.r.l. has announced that it will be producing a new benchtop design for it’s Fast Field Cycling NMR product becoming available in September 2006, and also the availability of a new single board NMR console - available June 2006. the company has also formed a JV company called Invento s.r.l. which is a combination of Stelar and a business incubator at the Univerity of Torino. The mission of Invento is to further the development of FFC NMR techniques as standard methodolgies in testing laboratories and to perhaps replace other TD-NMR spectrometers.

July 11, 2006
NMR Monitoring of Magnetic Field Strength of CERN Large Hadron Collider
A group of physicists at the University of Manchester are developing NMR probe technologies to monitor the magnetic field strength inside the solenoids of the Atlas LHC at CERN. The probe technology and accompanying NMR spectrometers are described on the Manchester website.

July 3, 2006
Process NMR Paper at San Francisco ACS Meeting - September 2006
ENITechnologie will be presenting a paper on the on-line application of NMR in lube plant operation at the upcoming ACS Meeting in San Francisco.

Experiencing Process MRA Industrial Lube Plant Application – Roberto Giardino1, Silvia Guanziroli1, Cinzia Passerini1, and Antonio Farina2. (1) EniTecnologie S.p.A, via Maritano, 26, San Donato M.se (MI), 20097, Italy, (2) Divisione Refining & Marketing – Raffineria di Livorno, Eni S.p.A, via Aurelia, 7, 57017 Stagno (LI), Italy.
In a conventional base oil production plant the operating conditions needed to produce products at a desired specification are very sensitive to feed quality. At Livorno refinery an on-line Process Magnetic Resonance Analyzer (MRA) has been installed to identify the feedstock and product composition and properly set an advanced process control system. By using MRA it is possible to reduce the product quality give-away due to feed quality variation. In this work the industrial experience acquired is reported.
Characterization, On-Line Monitoring, and Sensing of Petroleums and Petrochemicals 8:30 AM-11:30 AM, Thursday, 14 September 2006 Sheraton Palace—Telegraph Hill
Division of Petroleum ChemistryThe 232nd ACS National Meeting, San Francisco, CA, September 10-14, 2006

June 19, 2006
Application Overview for Spin Track TD-NMR Spectrometers
Due to it’s broad versatility the Spin Track NMR Hardware supports all standard NMR routines such as AOCS Cd 16b-93, AOCS Cd 16-81, ISO 8292, IUPAC2.150 and creative scientific research. Spin Track has been successfully approved in the food and polymer industries for routine analysis. If your application is not described below please contact John Edwards for discussion.
Solid Fat Content (SFC) AnalysisThe quality of food products containing fats and oils depends on solid fat content (SFC). SFC determination is an essential measurement in the baking, confectionery, and fat industries. NMR has been established as the method for SFC determination by ISO 8292. Measurements of SFC by the Spin Track NMR analyzer can be performed quickly and accurately with great benefit for the manufacturer.
Simultaneous Rapid-Determination of Oil and Water in SeedsSunflower, soybean, groundnut, rape and mustard are appreciated for their oil content, but excess of water content reduces their price. Thus, an accurate and fast determination of oil and water content is important to both manufacturers and customers. The Spin Track NMR analyzer meets ISO 10565 requirements and gives the possibility to simultaneously determine of oil and water content.
Oil/Fat and Moisture analysis in Chocolate, Powdered Milk, Cheese and other Food ProductsTime of storage of food products depends strongly on moisture content. Excess moisture leads to microbiological activity and can make food consumption dangerous. Fat and moisture content also heavily influence taste. Manufacturers are also regulated to disclose the exact information on the fat content of their products. NMR is the most rapid and exact method to determine these essential parameters. The Spin Track NMR analyzer is especially suitable for regular analysis of food quality.
Curing Degree and Elasticity Analysis in Rubber-Type Materials
Over the past years Rheology has become widely accepted as a tool in the investigation of rubber properties. However, rheological testing equipment can be extremely expensive and complicated. NMR is very sensitive to the structure and properties of investigated rubber materials. The Spin Track NMR-analyzer allows investigators to obtain data complementary to rheology and can also prove to be more informative.
Moisture and Crystallinity Analysis in PolysaccharidesPolysaccharides like chitin, chitosan etc. are widely used because of inherent unique properties. Adsorbents and food bio-additions based on them require a regular check of quality. Spin Track NMR-analyzer allows investigators to obtain information about moisture, crystallinity, purity and structure of polysaccharides.
Porosity of Rock Cores/Heterogeneous Catalysts/ZeolitesThe possibility of oil development can be defined more exactly in the initial stages of exploration by using NMR. Rock cores saturated by bitumen or water provide information on degree of saturation, structure of saturating compounds, porosity, and diffusion characteristics. This information allows the prediction of oil production yields. The Spin Track NMR-analyzer with a 35mm probe gives the possibility to obtain such information.
Scientific applicationsThe spectrometer’s Relax software allows construction of many types of NMR pulse sequences, user-defined interfaces, data processing (digital experiments filtering, fitting, Fourier and Laplace transforms) and data manipulations. Thus, customers can directly run automated standard type NMR experiments just by “pressing one button” in the program shell, or create new applications using the powerful pascal-like script language. Widely used experiments like measurements of T1 and T2 (90-tau-90, 180-tau-90, CPMG, FID, Spin Echo, Solid-Echo) are included into the Relax software as default examples. The NMR measurements can be accompanied with the high precision calibration samples and built-in software calibration procedures. Easy automatic tuning of the NMR frequency, pulse-durations, TX power and RX gain is included into the software package.

Process NMR Associates Begins Marketing of Cutting Edge TD-NMR Spectrometer
Resonance Systems Ltd. has granted Process NMR Associates the rights to promote, market, and sell it’s NMR products and custom NMR hardware in the Americas, and Worldwide. The basic product of the company is a portable NMR-analyzer called Spin Track that can be used for many different low and high resolution NMR applications.
Spin Track meets the requirements of many relaxation and diffusion based NMR analyses:
Food industry (Solid Fat Content Analysis, Dairy Products, Oil and Moisture in Chocolate, Powdered Milk, Cheese and other food products; Oil and Moisture in seeds, Emulsion Characteristics)Lipid Analysis – Fatty Acid DistributionCellulose and paper manufacturing (Moisture/Crystallinity Analysis, investigations of ageing effects)Oil industry (rock cores analysis, oil-water, oil-water-gas, viscosity, physical property correlation, )Polymer and rubber industry (Curing degree and elasticity analysis, polymer ageing, glass transition, amorphous/crystalline content)Chemical industry (Density, Melting Points, Copolymer Ratios, Compatibility, Cure, Cross Linking, H or F content,Medicine (NMR Surface Analysis of Patients, Plasma Analysis)Environmental (Water Pollution, Forest Degradation, Soils, Fertilizers)Fibers – Moisture and Finish ContentPharmaceuticals (Tablet Analysis, Coatings/Components/Moisture, Hydrogen/Fluorine/Sodium Content)Relaxation, Diffusion, Particle Size, Pore Size Distribution
Utilization of mobile NMR measurement equipment from Process NMR Associates provides the following advantages:
Reduction of expenses associated with meeting quality requirements of productsSimplicity of use in routine production measurements and in advanced laboratories for complicated analysisMobility of the hardware and low cost for the overall deviceNon-invasive measurements of any sampleHardware solutions for non-standard NMR applicationsPermanent technical support and comprehensive scientific consultingFair price and absolute ease of operation!
Portable Low-Resolution NMR Analyzer
Analyzer is designed to perform:
All standard NMR applicationsDevelopment of new NMR-based techniquesTeaching quantum physics, NMR, analytical chemistry in Universities and Colleges
NMR analyzer Spin Track comprises functional parts (probes, preamplifier and duplexer, TX Power Amplifier, Sequence Generator and PC Interface, Data Acquisition System, NMR Transceiver) which can be purchased separately and used for the specific needs of an advanced customer (see example of connection assembly). Depending on the required magnet system the Spin Track can be used as NMR relaxometer or high resolution NMR spectrometer.
Basic characteristics of Spin Track analyzer:
Frequency range of the NMR spectrometer module: 5..60 MHz
Ringing time for 10 mm NMR probe is 8 ms
Probe tube diameter: up to 35 mm
Changeable preamplifiers and 50 Ohm matched duplexers with self bandwidth of 5 MHz
Customer-defined set of sensors (5, 10 and 30mm test-tube magnet systems, NMR surface sensors)
Adjustable TX output power up to 400 Watts
Adjustable RX channel gain up to 107
RX Sensitivity better than 1 mV (conditions: signal to noise ratio 3)
Adjustable digital filter bandwidth from 100 Hz up to 1 MHz
Pulse sequence length up to 64K events with resolution 100 ns
Quadrature 64Kx10-bit data acquisition system
Complete control of functions via personal computer – USB 2.0 ConnectivityFast sensors replacement
Compatible with all Microsoft® Windows® operating systems
Software
The product software, Relax, is a powerful tool containing many standard NMR relaxation routines and applications, and can also be used to create new pulse-sequences, pulsed field gradients, gains and attenuations, post-processing methodolgies of considerable complexity. The built-in script language is based on a widespread Pascal syntax and is enriched with commands for fitting, Fourier and Laplace transforms, Low-pass filtering, etc. The script supports dialogue windows, static messages, user-defined diagrams, data manipulation procedures. Relax also allows direct processing of data obtained when utilizing Spin Track as a high-resolution NMR spectrometer.
Stationary Low-Resolution TD-NMR Analyzer
Analyzer is designed to perform:
Standard routine NMR applicationsDevelopment of new NMR-based techniquesTeaching quantum physics, NMR, and analytical chemistry in Universities and Colleges
The Spin Track Stationary fulfills all requirements to conduct NMR measurements like portable version of NMR analyzer.In addition it is supplied with the possibility for increased probe volume to facilitate excellent statistical averaging of experimental results or to accomodate large samples.
Basic characteristics of Stationary Spin Track Analyzer:
Frequency range of the NMR spectrometer module: 5..60 MHz
Ringing time for 10 mm NMR probe is 8 ms
Probe tube diameter: up to 35 mm
Changeable preamplifiers and 50 Ohm matched duplexers with self bandwidth of 5 MHz
Customer-defined set of sensors (5, 10 and 30mm test-tube magnet systems, NMR surface sensors)
Adjustable TX output power up to 400 Watts
Adjustable RX channel gain up to 107RX Sensitivity better than 1 mV (conditions: signal to noise ratio 3)
Adjustable digital filter bandwidth from 100 Hz up to 1 MHz
Pulse sequence length up to 64K events with resolution 100 ns
Quadrature 64Kx10-bit data acquisition system
Complete control of functions via personal computer – USB 2.0 ConnectivityFast sensors replacement
Compatible with all Microsoft® Windows® operating systems
Relax Software
Educational Low-Resolution TD-NMR Spectrometer
Analyzer is designed to demonstrate NMR spin dynamics as well as provide a basic platform for undergraduate level chemistry and physics labs.Standard routine NMR applications (FID, Spin Echo, CPMG, Carr-Purcell, T1-Determination (90-90 or inversion recovery))Development of new NMR-based techniques – software allows development of pulse sequences by students without risk of instrument damage.Teaching quantum physics, NMR, and analytical chemistry in Universities and Colleges
Basic characteristics of Stationary Spin Track Analyzer:
Frequency range of the NMR spectrometer module: 10..20 MHz
NMR Probe tube diameter: 5 mm
10-20 MHz Magnets,
Surface NMR Sensors
Changeable preamplifiers and 50 Ohm matched duplexers with self bandwidth of 5 MHz
Adjustable TX output power up to 100 Watts
Adjustable RX channel gain up to 107
RX Sensitivity better than 1 mV (conditions: signal to noise ratio 3)
Adjustable digital filter bandwidth from 100 Hz up to 1 MHz
Pulse sequence length up to 64K events with resolution 100 ns
Quadrature 64Kx10-bit data acquisition system
Complete control of functions via personal computer – USB 2.0 ConnectivityCompatible with all Microsoft® Windows® operating systems
Relax Software
Custom NMR Components
For NMR engineers and advanced specialists Process NMR Associates offers accessories to upgrade, modernize, or build new NMR related devices (see connection example). All modules can be purchased separately and modules can be developed with unique characteristics to fulfill special requirements of the customer.
Surface NMR Sensors NMR Sequence Generator
Data Acquisition Unit Wide-Band NMR Transceiver
NMR Power Amplifier NMR Pre-Amplifiers and Duplexers
For more information and pricing please contact John Edwards
Back to Process NMR Associates Home Page

June 1, 2006
United States Department of the Interior - Oil Shale and Tar Sands Leasing Programmatic EIS
The public forum site of the department of the interior related to the environmental impact statement is found at the following location. The site contains excellent overviews of the tar sands and oil shales found in Wyoming-Colorado-Utah. Excellent Oil Shale site from the DOE with strategic significance reports and government policy statements.

Bruker BioSciences Corporation Announces Agreement to Acquire Bruker Optics Inc.
An interesting news article from Bruker world – “Bruker BioSciences Corporation Announces Agreement to Acquire Bruker Optics Inc. for $135 Million in Cash and Stock” dated April 17, 2006. Fascinating…. of particular interest from the process analytical and molecular spectroscopy side was Bruker Optics VP Dan Klevisha’s comment – ” For Bruker Optics, becoming part of a larger and public company will also allow us to explore complementary acquisitions.”

Materials Research Society - Symposium on Magnetic Resonance in Material Science
The Materials Research Society announces a call for papers for it’s Symposium (MM) on Magentic Resonance in Material Science to be held at the Fall Meeting in Boston on November 27 – December 1, 2006. Abstracts are due by June 20th.

Alternative Sources of NMR Equipment - Beyond the Big 3
There are a number of alternatives to buying new systems from Bruker-Varian-JEOL. A number of third party suppliers are present in the market selling and supporting refurbished used NMR systems. These companies can install and warranty the systems as well as maintain the cryogens for you if you wish. The companies that specialize in supercon NMR systems are Triangle Analytical, RS2D, NMR Associates, and MR Resources. A great place for used probes and repair is J S Research. Consoles can be obtained from Tecmag and from Anasazi (Anasazi also provides refurbished 60 and 90 MHz electro/permanent magnet systems). Spincore provides NMR spectrometer components for those who want to build their own instruments. Magritek, Minispec, Oxford Instruments, Resonance Systems, Progression, PCT, all sell TD-NMR instruments.
Process NMR Associates can guide you through this maze of choices.

May 31, 2006
Stan’s NMR Blog - Two Articles on Magnetic Field Noise Effects
Stan Sykora continues to expand his excellent NMR blog with two new articles on NMR signal reproducibility. His articles cover how field noise effects the repeatability of NMR signals such as FIDs and spectra and Hahn echoes and CPMG trains. In our experience of online NMR we have worked extensively on this topic with respect to the repeatability of the processed NMR spectrum and it’s effect on the repeatability/reproducibility of the chemometric predictions employed for process control. As Stan notes, if people have done a lot of work in this area it is certainly not being reported … mea culpa.

FAPRI World Agricultural Outlook 2006
The Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute has published it’s annual U.S and World Agricultural Outlook for 2006.

May 30, 2006
Online TD-NMR Analyzers for 19F and 31P Analysis of Minerals and Phosphates
I guess you learn something everyday… The Harrison R. Cooper Systems Company of Bountiful Utah has been marketing low field Phosphorus-31 and Fluorine-19 NMR analyzers for a phospate mineral benefication process and for fluorine monitoring in mineral slurries. It appears from the site that only a few installations were made and no indication of successful outcomes or benefits are provided in the analyzer and process descriptions. I can’t decipher where the NMR technology originated….perhaps Auburn?

May 26, 2006
21.1 Tesla Quench Video
The University of Colorado Health Science Center installed a pumped 900 MHz system in 2005. They have an awesome video of a deliberate quench of the magnet as part of the ramping protocol. Here is the link to the video and here is a link to the NIH funded facility.

1H and 13C Shifts of Common NMR Solvents - Excel Table
Edward Vawter of QD Information Services has made available two useful excel spreadsheets containing the 1H chemical shifts and 13C chemical shifts of most common deuterated NMR solvents. He also has a few other useful articles available from his download page.

Hilarious NMR Adventures at Stanford
Dylan Stiles at Stanford has an often hilarious blog category dedicated to the NMR aspects of his natural product synthesis projects. He gets a lot of commentary which is great as I think he has the only NMR blog that anyone cares to read. His blog is at http://blog.tenderbutton.com/?cat=9.

NMR Post-Processing Software for Mac Users
Phillip Grandinetti of Ohio State University (Research Group Site) offers an NMR post processing program for mac users called RMN at his website. He has an alpha version that runs under OS X and he is looking for alpha-testers to kick the tires. A more mature version is available that runs under Mac Classic OS.
Mestrec laboratories also offer a cheap (50/100 Euro) software package that is available at iNMR.

May 22, 2006
AMMRL Meeting at 47th ENC - Asilomar, CA, April 2006 - Presentations
The AMMRL (Association of Managers in Magnetic Resonance Laboratories) held an annual meeting at which a number of presentations were given that give an idea of the economics and issues that arise for University NMR Facility Managers and Administrators, the links are below:Charlie Fry—IntroductionKen Visscher—Open-Access Laboratories in Industry Nick Burlinson—Design and Installation of a Departmental NMR FacilityEugene DeRose—Problems and Protections for Pumped Magnets Josh Kurutz—A Survey of Business Models for Academic Facilities David Vander Velde—Cryoprobes and Money (a.k.a. Losing Money) Klaas Hallenga—Practical Tips and Tricks with Cryogenic Probes
The AMMRL has a website with some basic information at http://chemnmr.colorado.edu/ammrl/ and has an invaluable archive of “user group” e-mails that discuss all aspects of running and maintaining an NMR facility (Email – Archives 1993-Present). If you have a question about instrument problems, instrument and cryogen maintenance, user training, user competency, safety issues, etc …. chances are the answers are already included in this database. The database can also be searched by key word to arrive at “on-topic” material.

May 18, 2006
The Anatomy of a Superconducting NMR Magnet
Dr Joseph Vaughn of Florida State University has placed an autopsy of a Varian R2D2 7.05 Tesla NMR magnet on the department website. The innards of the magnet and probe are all exposed in the gory photographs. Check it out at the FSU chemistry site : http://www.chem.fsu.edu/facilities/cutaway_nmr_magnet.asp
This is one of the siblings of the magnets that we operate in our labortory at Process NMR Associates. The site is only for those with a strong stomach.

May 16, 2006
8th International Bologna Conference on Magnetic Resonance in Porous Media
Filed under: PNA, Process NMR, Analytical NMR — Administrator @ 11:58 am
This conference (MRPM8) will be held September 10-14 at the University of Bologna, Italy. It is being held a few days after the 6th Colloquium on Mobile magnetic Resonance in Aachen Germany, (September 6-8, CMMR6) to facilitate the attendance of conferees at both meetings.

May 3, 2006
Symbion Systems Inc
Symbion Systems Inc has developed a family of software products that provide a common interface for communicating with, networking, and controlling many analytical instruments, and sample systems, in a laboratory or process analysis setting. The software can control many individual analyzers from different vendors, process the data and visualize it, store the data in SQL databases, and perform complex chemometric analysis by calling various calibrations from many chemometric software platforms. The predictions obtained from process analytical instrumentation can be plotted, visualized, stored, and outputted under many standard formats for integration with process control and optimization software. A version can be obtained that is GLP/GMP/21 CFR, Part 11 compliant. The software will provide an excellent platform for development and execution of analytical laboratory methods, as well as process analytical applications.

One Moon Scientific Inc.
Bruce Johnson of One Moon Scientific (ex Merck) has produced a series of software tools for visualizing and analyzing spectroscopic data with particular emphasis on NMR data. His NMRViewJ can process and visualize NMR datasets in 1 or multiple dimensions and has built in molecular visualization and statistical data analysis tools. The software is “free” but Bruce asks that if you download and use it you should pay a “support contract fee” in order to support the ongoing development of the NMR software products.

April 26, 2006
16th ISMAR 2007 - Website Posted
Filed under: Analytical NMR — Administrator @ 11:09 am
The International Society of Magnetic Resonance announces the 16th Triennial Conference to be held at Kenting, Taiwan, October 14-19, 2007. Organized by the Taiwan Magnetic Resonance Society, Academia Sinica, Taiwan – Website is found at http://www.ismar2007.sinica.edu.tw/

April 1, 2006
Energy Information
Here are a few excellent links to the energy situation in the 21st Century:
Energy Technologies for the Twenty-First CenturyWEC - Survey of Energy Resources 2001DOE - This Week in PetroleumEnergy Information AdministrationMain Site
Comments (0)
March 15, 2006
Modern Drug Discovery - NMR Articles
Filed under: Analytical NMR — Administrator @ 2:00 pm
ACS Publication “Modern Drug Discovery” – Available NMR ArticlesScreening with NMRNMR Spectroscopy Software – Molecular biologists can now use proton NMR data to elucidate protein structure.NMR on TargetUltracool NMR Technology – CryoprobesLooking for Quality

March 14, 2006
NMR of Silicones in Pharmaceutical Developments
Dow Corning have published a small overview paper on manufacturing processes and development of silicones in pharmaceutical formulations. The paper includes characterization details by FT-IR and NMR.

The 6th Colloquium on Mobile Magnetic Resonance - Official Website now Posted
The 6th Colloquium on Mobile Magnetic Resonance has now posted an official website to cover the meeting at http://www.cmmr.de/index.htm

March 13, 2006
PNA Talk - Dr Giammatteo to Present Sigma Xi Seminar at Quinnipiac University
Hamden, Conn. – Dr. Paul J. Giammatteo, co-founder of Process NMR Associates, will present “Pulse, Acquire, Control: Ten Years of Online High-Resolution Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) in Refining, Petrochemical and Food Manufacturing” at 12 p.m. on Monday, March 27, in the Clarice L. Buckman Theater at Quinnipiac University.
The free lecture is open to the public and is part of Sigma XI Special Seminar Series.
From gasoline manufacturing to butter production, more than 140 online NMRs have been placed in manufacturing plants worldwide. Giammatteo will discuss installation and utilization of this technology, its application in the petroleum and petrochemical industries and the future in pharmaceuticals.
Giammatteo co-founded Process NMR Associates, based in Danbury, in 1997. He previously worked for Texaco for 17 years. Giammatteo received his doctorate in chemistry from Wesleyan University and has published and presented more than 30 papers.
For more information, contact James Kirby, associate professor of chemistry at Quinnipiac, at (203) 582-8275 or James.Kirby@quinnipiac.edu

March 10, 2006
NMR Applications in Food Quality
Overview document on Belgian Science Policy as it pertains to the use of low and high field NMR in the quality control of food.
Quantification by 1H NMR of Fatty Acids and Their Derivatives – by G. Knothe – USDA
An incredible repository of NMR information related to 1H and 13C NMR of Fatty Acids and their derivatives is found at the Lipid Library.

What is Your Carbon Footprint?
A handy calculator from BP allows you to calculate your impact on global warming – Carbon Calculator.

Heavy Oil and Bitumen Upgrading
Bitumen from Canadian Oil Sands – The Worlds New Marginal Supply of Oil” – January 2006
Oil Sands: Alberta’s Opportunity to Become a Significant Oil Exporter” – by Fluor, February 2004.
National Center for Upgrading Technology – Conference on “Upgrading and Refining of Heavy Oil, Bitumen and Synthetic Crude Oil” – September 2006 – Details
Bitumen and Very Heavy Crude Upgrading Technology – A Review of Long Term R&D Opportunities” March 2004
Genoil demonstration of an upgraded bitumen – effects on TBP and other physical properties.
Fueling an Integrated Energy Future” – Energy Innovation Network, December 2004
Kearl Lake Bitumen Extraction Project
Historical Perspective of the Heavy Oil Resources of Utah
USGS - “Heavy Oil and Natural Bitumen-Strategic Petroleum Resources
Non-Conventional Hydrocarbons – Where and How Much
Energy Independence for North America Through Heavy Oil Upgrading – Presentation – same material but presented as a Paper
Alberta Energy Research Institute – Strategic Research Plan
Shell – Gasification in Heavy Oil Upgrading in Alberta
The Impact of Emerging Research Techniques on Exploitation and Refining Technology Development” John Shaw – University of Alberta
Alberta’s Oils Sands Opportunity
Jacobs Engineering – Oils Sands Production Presentation
Total – Tar Sands Production Presentation
Effect of Tar Sands on World Oil Supply – Imperial Oil
Association for the Study of Peak Oil & Gas
Alternative Fuels – An Energy technology Perspective – March 2005
Integration Opportunities for Coal/Oil Coprocessing With Existing Refineries
Oil Sands Supply Outlook – March 2004

March 9, 2006
Spatial Encoding Produces 2D-NMR in a Single Scan
Ultrafast 2D NMR spectroscopy obtained in a single scan is described by Lucio Frydman of the Weizman Institutein his paper entitled “Single Scan 2D NMR

Metabonomics Overview - High Field 1H NMR in Metabolite Profiling
Professor John Lindon (Metabometrix Ltd) provides an Overview of Metabonomics relating the role of high field 1H NMR in metabolite profiling in biofluids.

March 1, 2006
Polymer Chemistry Resource
Beautiful site that gives overviews of most polymer chemistry systems.