NMR Primers

We thought the following links to NMR primers would be helpful to those taking courses in NMR. Perhaps some of our readers could make suggestions as well.

http://www.cem.msu.edu/~reusch/VirtualText/Spectrpy/nmr/nmr1.htm

http://www.cis.rit.edu/htbooks/nmr/

http://www.chem.uic.edu/web1/ocol/spec/NMR.htm

http://www1.umn.edu/nmr/other.html

Smokin' Hot Inserts

Norell’s Optimizer Inserts™ (go to online products/accessories/optimizer inserts), are precision adapters that hold 3mm, 4mm or 4.25mm NMR tubes inside a 5mm spinner turbine. They are available for Bruker and Varian spectrometers and do not include the spinner turbine. This Patent Pending device is very useful and the perfect accessory for running NMR experiments with salt gradients.

Spring Forward with a New Catalog

We are happy to announce that we have a redesigned catalog just in time for Spring. With NEW products, NEW technical drawings and a NEW unique style, this catalog is a candy for the eyes and health food for the mind. Please call or email us today for your free updated version.

1-800-519-3688
609-909-3700
customerservice@nmrtubes.com

"The Hollywood Swing of Things"

Book your plane ticket now for the 49th ENC at Asilomar, March 9th-14th. When you arrive, go directly to the Acacia Suite and get into "The Hollywood Swing of Things". We will transport you to a era overflowing with extravagant boas, gangster hats and swingin cats. CLICK HERE for a preview of what's to come!

Visit the ENC website for more information on the conference. http://www.enc-conference.org/

NMR Sample Tubes for Lab Automation Systems

We have specially manufactured NMR tubes for use with Varian and Bruker lab automation systems.  They are supplied with our patent pending NorLoc™ caps that provide a sealing feature which prevents solvent evaporation with common NMR solvents and provides superior sealing for air sensitive samples.  In addition to our standard 0.38mm wall tubes, we also make 0.77mm and 1.40mm wall tubes which are used for reducing salt effects when running bio-samples.   All of our automation system tubes meet or exceed Bruker and Varian specifications for use in their automation systems.

For more information, please call 1-800-519-3688

A Cweet™ Confection for the Holidays!

With sugarplums dancing in my head, I thought a blog about something sweet, or in this case Cweet™, would be perfect. The smell of holiday cookies makes my mouth water, but then the realization of how much sugar is in those cookies makes me take a moment to question whether or not I really want to indulge. Scenarios such as this are why food manufacturing companies are constantly on the look out for new low calorie or, preferably, no calorie sweeteners. An up-and-comer in this growing industry is Natur Research Ingredients of Los Angeles who announced they will be manufacturing Cweet™ Natural Intense Sweetener, which is derived from the fruit of a West African tropical plant named Pentadiplandra brazzeana Baillon. The extract from the plant is called brazzein and is "2000 times sweeter than sucrose when compared to a 2% sucrose solution in water and 500 times sweeter compared to 10% sugar solution. However, it has a taste closer to sucrose itself than other sweet proteins, such as thaumatin, is soluble in water and its sweetness is maintained even at 80 Celsius, which is important for foods that must be pasteurised, for instance. Wisconsin's Fariba Assadi-Porter uses NMR to study the structure-function relationships in brazzein and its analogues in order to understand precisely why this compound so stimulates our sweet receptors. Stable-isotope-assisted multinuclear NMR is the key that unlocks detailed chemical and structural information at the atomic level when the compound is present in living cells and interacting with the receptor. The team's current model of the binding of brazzein to the sweet receptor, suggests that the 54-amino acid protein chain binds at several points to the receptor. The sweet proteins do not share the same chemical properties as sugars like sucrose. In fact, these proteins do not interact with the same binding sites as sugars. "What makes these proteins sweet is far more complex than small sweeteners like sucrose, aspartame, etc," Assadi-Porter told SpectroscopyNOW, "There are many factors that dictate sweetness, such as the three-dimensional fold and large positive charges." She and her colleagues are now attempting to understand the detailed structural and chemical properties that are important for the sweetness of brazzein and its interaction with the sweet receptor." ("Sweet Structure Producer", spectroscopynow.com)

The complexity of the structure with the simplicity of the pleasure of something so sweet is amazing and even more intriguing is that brazzein tastes sweet only to old world monkeys and humans. I, for one, am thankful to be able to enjoy all the sweets in my life. May you all have a Happy Holiday Season and focus on all the sweets in your life.

The above excerpt was taken from this article in spectroscopynow.com. For more information, please refer to that article as well as the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.

What is Pryex®?

Pyrex® is a name we all feel comfortable with. It represents quality and in the laboratory glassware industry it is often thought to be the only option acceptable to buyers. It is amazing what the power of branding can do. Corning, Inc. did such a good job that Pyrex® became a genericized trademark for what is also known as borosilicate glass.

Borosilicate glass was developed slightly prior to Corning's take on the substance. It's first brand name was actually Duran®, developed by Otto Schott in the late 19th century. Another brand name currently used to refer to this type of glass is Kimax® which is produced by Kimble Chase.

Borosilicate glass is created by adding boron to the traditional glassmaker's frit of silicate sand, soda and ground lime. The glass produced has a thermal expansion coefficient about one-third that of ordinary glass resulting in a material that is less stressed by temperature gradients and more resistant to breaking. This along with other factors such as chemical damage resistence, refractory properties and physical strength are what make borosilicate glass a good choice for Norell's NMR tubes.