Grant: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)

Natural products derived from marine and terrestrial sources exhibit interesting anti-microbial, anti-viral and anti-inflammatory activities. These bioactivities make natural products as an important source for the discovery of new pharmaceutical agents and more than 60% of the drugs available on the market are of natural product origin. For instance, Taxol, isolated from pacific yew tree Taxus brevifolia, is a potent anti-cancer agent. One of the most important steps in this research involves the structure elucidation of bioactive natural products. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectrometer is one of the required tools to acquire one- and two-dimensional spectral data (1H-, 13C, COSY, TOCSY, HMQC, HMBC, NOESY) used in the structure elucidation of complex chemical compounds. This chemical characterization helps in designing the synthesis of newly isolated bioactive natural products. This machine is also used to study the reaction mechanisms in inorganic and organic chemistry. It is considered as one of the most important instruments in chemistry departments to facilitate the structural characterization of chemical compounds.  The Department of Chemistry, University of Winnipeg no longer has a  functional NMR available.  Therefore, we are requesting funds to acquire a 300 MHz NMR to facilitate our various NSERC funded research programs.