New opportunities for NMR research, open to external users via Instruct-ERIC and iNEXT-Discovery

A novel cryoprobe optimized for direct detection of heteronuclear spins has been installed at CERM on the NMR spectrometer operating at 1.2 GHz (¹H frequency) on July 19th 2021.

The newly installed cryoprobe opens novel opportunities for NMR research!
Implementing novel NMR experiments with the new CP-TXO probehead for our 1200 MHz: Rainer Kuemmerle from Bruker during a training session with researchers and technicians at CERM/CIRMMP.

Optimized for heteronuclear sensitivity (¹³C and ¹⁵N), this 5mm cryoprobe (CP-TXO) also enables challenging applications exploiting ¹H direct detection.

Initial tests on standard samples confirmed an excellent ¹³C and ¹⁵N sensitivity which, combined with the resolving power of the high magnetic field, is expected to open novel applications to challenging problems.

Promising fields of research include paramagnetic proteins, large proteins as well as intrinsically disordered proteins. The investigation of proteins in cells is expected to benefit by the high ¹⁵N sensitivity and clean spectra. The good performance of the probe also for ¹H has already been shown to provide beautiful spectra of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.

Also challenges are expected to emerge, as usual when novel hardware becomes available (large spectral widths, control homogeneity, sample heating). Great care in experimental set-up is thus needed in parallel to development of novel methods to exploit at best the great potential of the new probe.