Chemistry building gets magnetic powers

The chemistry department will soon have the addition of solid, liquid and field magnets after the completion of the David M. Grant Nuclear Magnetic Resonance facility.

The facility will be a 22,370-square-foot expansion to the Henry Eyring Chemistry Building. Construction began in July 2005 and the proposed completion date falls later this month.

Nuclear magnetic resonance allows state-of-the-art research in biological structure and function by measuring and identifying magnetic properties of compounds.

"It is an indispensable tool," said Dennis Edwards, NMR service engineer. "We use it to determine proteins, anticancer agents, fuel possibilities- (NMRs) are used across the field of chemistry."

The facility will also have different spectrometers, which are used to measure wavelengths. Some of the high-field spectrometers will be used for the National Institute of Health Research.

The U has 12 NMRs, seven of which will be moved to the new facility, according to the 2006 Annual Project Update Summary.

The most recent NMR the U purchased cost $1 million. The department has its eye on another NMR that weighs 26,000 pounds, reaches 17 feet high and would cost $5.5 million. The facility is designed so that the proposed NMR could be lifted through the building's roof.

The project's budget is approximately $7.5 million, with funding by the National Institute of Health and matching funds from the U.

Visitors can observe the magnets from a second-story viewing gallery.