Engineers develop portable NMR spectrometers

NMR spectroscopy disturbs protons within a molecule to ascertain important clues about its structure. It can identify unknown substances, detect very slight variations in chemical composition, and measure how molecules interact, making it an essential tool in organic chemistry, structural biology, drug discovery, and industrial quality control.

Led by Donhee Ham, Gordon McKay Professor of Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics at SEAS, and his student Dongwan Ha, Ph.D., the team – including colleagues from the Schlumberger-Doll Research Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the University of Texas, Austin – says it has shrunk the electronic spectrometer components, fitting them on a silicon chip smaller than a sesame seed. Combined with a compact permanent magnet, this spectrometer is said to represent the smallest device that can presently perform multidimensional NMR spectroscopy.

Significantly reducing the size and cost of the device - while also preserving the broad functionality of much larger spectroscopy setups - now enables the development of portable NMR spectrometers that could travel to remote sites for online, on-demand applications or to laboratories where larger systems would be prohibitively expensive. The chips can also operate accurately over a wide temperature range.