Grants and Contributions:

Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year (2017-2018 to 2018-2019).

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is a powerful tool used by chemists, biochemists, biologistsx000D
and the pharmaceutical industry to establish chemical identity and structure. Despite its broad utility, NMRx000D
spectroscopy was the last analytical technology to miniaturize. Nanalysis Corp. is a small, Calgary-basedx000D
Canadian company that manufactures small "bench-top" NMR spectrometers. Although they have developedx000D
industry leading technology, they have not yet created protocols for operating their instruments in the unusualx000D
environment of a glove box, a special tool employed by academic, industrial and pharmaceutical chemists whox000D
use air-sensitive chemicals that must be stored under an inert atmosphere.x000D
The proposed project involves a collaboration between Nanalysis Corp. and Prof. Paul G. Hayes at thex000D
University of Lethbridge. Hayes is an expert in air-sensitive chemistry and NMR spectroscopy and possessesx000D
resources necessary to provide operational testing of a bench-top NMR spectrometer inside a functioning glovex000D
box. The information obtained throughout this project will allow Nanalysis to access a new market, therebyx000D
growing their customer base, ultimately leading to job creation. It is important to recognize that manyx000D
chemicals relevant to products used by many Canadians (e.g. metal catalysts that are used to makex000D
pharmaceuticals or polymerize alkenes to make plastics) react negatively with oxygen and moisture in the air.x000D
Thus, technological improvements that enable such work to be completed more quickly and efficiently willx000D
benefit Canadians by lowering the cost of existing products and leading to more rapid development of newx000D
ones.