The NEO 400 is housed in the basement of Edison-Lecks, Room 11 (Bay 1). It is a 2-channel instrument equipped with a X-nuclei optimized 5mm double resonance broad banded Bruker iProbe, a BCU-II chiller for VT gas cooling, and a 24 position SampleCase automatic sample changer. It was installed in February 2024 (purchased with funds from NIH 1S10OD034395-01 , Isaac Krauss, PI).
Current software is Topspin 4.3.0, with IconNMR 6.1.0 for automation.
Only trained users, trainees under supervision and NMR personnel should be using this spectrometer.
The NEO 400 runs in IconNMR automation mode most of the time.
During the day (9am-9pm), you should not run experiments longer than 10 minutes.
Experiments longer than 10 minutes should be run at night (indicated in blue above), by setting the experiment to nighttime mode in the IconNMR interface.
You may book time on the spectrometer calendar where you may use priority mode to ensure that your experiments run before other users' experiments. This functionality is intended to facilitate troubleshooting of complex experiments and the predictability needed for running unstable samples. If you have booked time, you may run experiments longer that 10 minutes, as long as they fit within your booked block. Bookings are only allowed at certain times. Blocks of up to 60 minutes can be booked from 9:30am-11:30am. Blocks of up to 10 minutes can be booked from 11:30am-7pm. Blocks of up to 30 minutes can be booked from 7pm-9pm.
Daytime experiments longer than 10 minutes and use of priority mode are not permitted outside of a booked block. Breaking these rules impedes the work of other researchers and will lead to your NMR access being restricted.
In order to prevent blocking the instrument for long periods during peak times, you are only permitted to queue up at most 3 daytime samples at once. If you need to run more than 3 samples, you can either run them in batches or submit them as nighttime experiments.
You may contact the NMR director to request that additional experiment types be added to IconNMR for use in automation mode.
You may contact the NMR director to request access to change additional acquisition parameters.
Variable temperature at cold (max=-40 degrees) or warm (max=130 degrees) temperatures is possible, but only for users that have been specifically trained for this application.
You may contact the NMR director to reserve time for manual operation if needed for a specific purpose. Manual operation requires stopping the automation run, which is disruptive to other users, so please only do this if you cannot get the data you need in automation mode.
Additional training is required for a user to run the spectrometer manually.
You should always consult the online calendar. Cryogen fills typically require ~ 1 hour and the magnet may not be very stable for some time afterwards. The fills will always be noted on the calendar.
No sample manipulation should be performed at the computer table or by the magnet. You should bring a clean, capped NMR tube with sample inside to the NMR lab. There are many possibilities for carrying your NMR sample tubes – your POCKETS are not a good option.
Gloves should be unnecessary. If you need to wear gloves to handle your sample tube, then your tube should not be placed in the magnet.
Do not wear your lab coat into the NMR lab. Lab coats come into contact with potentially contaminated surfaces in your lab and should not be worn in common spaces including the hallways and elevators on the way to the NMR lab.
If you break a sample tube while trying to insert it into the spinner, make sure to clean up all glass and chemicals. Take the spinner (and any glass remaining inside it) to the NMR Director or NMR TA. Do not attempt to clean the spinner yourself and do not leave that spinner at the spectrometer.
If you break a sample while trying to insert or eject it from the magnet, immediately hit the emergency stop button on the SampleCase and post a sign at the spectrometer to prevent anyone from using it. Then contact the NMR TA or the NMR Director. Serious damage to the probe can result from broken samples, especially if users insert a new sample on top of the broken one.
Since samples do break sometimes, this is not a chemical-free area so food and drink are not allowed.
Only NMR personnel are allowed to reboot the console or the computer. If you believe that one of these actions is required, you should contact the NMR TA or NMR Director.