OAU Installs an Agilent 400MHz NMR Spectrometer

Engineers, VC, beside Agilent 400MHz NMR spectrometer

The University has just installed and commissioned an Agilent 400MHz NMR spectrometer (with an Agilent VnmrJ 3.2 Experiment Selector) acquired as part of the 2010 Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) 3 billion Naira grant to the university.

The installation was completed and handed over to the university on 2nd July 2013 by Engineers Jan Pelnar (from Czech Republic) and Peter Biller (from South Africa) with the active participation of the supplier, Messrs Femimat Concept Ltd. The Vice Chancellor, Prof. Bamitale Omole in company of the DVC (Academic) and the Bursar visited the CSL on Friday 28th June 2013 to assess the level of work done.

 He commended the effort of the supplier, Messrs Femimat Concept Ltd and the engineers for their dedication in seeing to the successful installation of the machine.

The unit installed in the CSL, which replaces the older model (Varian 200MHz) in use from 2001-2012 is the only one in the Nigerian university system and the West Africa sub-region. It has a dedicated standby power source to ensure continuous operation.

Both 1D and 2D proton and carbon experimental options (including APT, DEPT,gCOSY, gHSQC, gHMBC, NOESY etc.) are available. Facilities for other nuclei are provided for in the probe. NMR spectroscopy is indispensable in Natural product chemistry and organic synthesis where it is of particular use for chemical structure elucidation.

Primarily for maintaining the NMR magnet, an additional Liquid Nitrogen Generator (Nitro Gen 40)capable of producing about 160L of liquid nitrogen was also acquired to complement the existing Rigaku LN 40 liquid nitrogen plant. The liquid nitrogen is available for sale to prospective users.