Project Code Update for Bruker 400 and 500

If you are using the two Bruker instruments and if there is a change to the charging project code you provided earlier, please e-mail me or update the new code following this link as soon as possible. If you have switched groups, please find out the new code to use from your advisor or the accounting office. The latest code you provide will be used until the next update. Your timely update helps alleviate the tedious work for the accounting offices after the instrument usage summary is done monthly.

Network Upgrade to Disrupt Data Transfer on Mon/Tue (03/30)

A planned upgrade of department network on Monday and Tuesday will sporadically disrupt data transfer from the NMR workstations and internet connection in general. This won't affect NMR instrument operation although the web booking pages may not be accessible. For the two Varians, use them as walkup instruments if you cannot book time.

If you can wait for the data, please check the internet connection periodically. If you need the data quickly, the transfer can be done with a USB stick. Make sure not to delete any data from the workstation. You may also see me to get your data.

NMR Facility Schedule During Power Outage Mar 27-28 (03/28/2025)

Update (11:15am, 03/28): All instruments, including Bruker 500, are ready for use.
Update (11:00am, 03/28): Varian 500, Varian 600, and Bruker 400 have been tested and are ready for use. Bruker 500 will be ready shortly.
Update (9:30am, 03/28): Regular power has been restored. All instruments are expected to be ready for use by 11 am. The coldprobe on Bruker 500 is cooling down and may take up to 12 PM to complete. Once the instruments are ready, an update will be posted.

Earlier: According to the current campus-wide power shutdown schedule, we plan to shut down all instruments around 4 PM on Thursday, March 27. If the utility work finishes as planned and the building compressed air is back, we'll have all instruments back running before 4 PM on Friday. Please plan accordingly.

During this time, the coldprobe on Bruker 500 will be warmed up, and cooled down again after the power outage. Please pay attention to updated notices for instrument readiness. Do not use any instrument unless it is cleared to be ready for use.

Separately, the department IT support will conduct upgrade work following the power outage. There will be intermittent network interruption for remote data access from Friday, March 28 to Monday, March 31. This will not affect instrument operation, but it may affect data transfer.

Pick up old samples at Bruker 4/500 by 12 PM EVERY Friday (03/10/2025)

Update: We have a large number of unclaimed samples. Please retrieve yours and take some old ones for reuse.

A large number of samples have regularly been left on the tables by Bruker 400 and 500 for many days. If you want to get back your samples after the runs, make sure to pick them up within 2-3 days, or they may easily get lost. For important samples, pick them up within the day.

On every Monday or Tuesday, without any further notice, the sampels from the workstation tables will be moved and left on the mobile cart for collection. It is important that all other users do not relocate the samples or mix NEW samples from the table or autosampler with the old ones left on the cart.

Only collect your own samples before the deadline. After 12 PM on every Friday, all left-over samples on the cart are free to take. All samples left there for over two weeks (collected in separate, marked beakers) will be disposed of without notice.

Class Use of Bruker 500 Today (02/25/2025)

The Chembio lab class will use Bruker 500 after 10:30 am today for a few hours. Please do not submit long experiments of more than a few mins during this time. Brief experiments are Ok. Any experiments in the queue that may affect the class use will be held temporarily in night mode until the class use is over.

Please cancel the experiments after removing a sample on Bruker (02/13/2025)

After removing a sample from the SampleCase when you do not want to run the experiments anymore on Bruker 400 or 500, please also cancel and delete the queued experiments under IconNMR. Leaving them there causes a hard failure. Three consecutive missing sample failures or lock or tuning failures cause IconNMR to stop running.

Lost Samples in Bruker Area (02/07/2025)

Recently some users have lost their samples that were run during the same day. When you pick up your samples, please take care not to remove other users’ samples from the table. If you have taken other users’ samples by accident, please return them here as soon as you find out. All other samples from the previous week or earlier are left on the cart.

29Si: Indirect Detection of Insensitive Nuclei in 2D NMR (02/11/2025)

Acquisition Data Corruption on Bruker 500 (02/03/2025)

There has been sporadic data corruption during acquisition on Bruker 500 over the last few days. The acquisition appeared to have succeeded with a FID or SER (for 2D) file inside the folder along with error messages about "CubeManager", Amplifier or AuditTrail etc seen in the Remarks field of the log file. The Bruker error messages are not meaningful enough to suggest any specific source of the problem. Following a complete reboot of the console and the computer, the errors seem to have gone away.

If you were unable to process the data in Mnova over the last few days, often with an error message "Not enough memory to import ...", the data is corrupt and needs a rerun.

Loose Wrappings or Tapes Around NMR Tubes Not Allowed (01/24/2025)

As a reminder, in general, we do not allow the use of paper tapes or other kinds of wrappings on the NMR tubes either used as sample labels or as air-tight seals. The exception is the use of carefully wrapped, red paper tapes to denote samples with radioactive materials. These loose sticky wrappings pose serious danger of falling into the upper barrel or getting stuck during sample transport. Any tape extending out from the tube also disables the auto-sample transport (see right picture below) or blocks the light sensors causing fatal errors.

Any user who observes a loosely wrapped NMR tube sitting in the SampleCase at the two Bruker instruments should remove it from the SampleCase. Please send me a note if this happens.

Loose wrappings found at Bruker 400 or 500 in the past

Extreme wind event may cause power outage this week (01/07/2025)

Update: Due to expected stronger wind over the next few days, SCE has expanded the potential preventitive power shutoff areas. See the latest map here.

Earlier: A rare, intense windstorm may cause power outage and wildfires across Southern California over the next few days. Edison has also indicated that electric power may be preventatively cut (PSPS) in some areas in Santa Barbara and Montecito, and maybe other areas as early as this evening. Currently, the PSPS doesn't include Goleta and the campus area. See the current power outage and PSPS status from Edison's website here.

As usual, if we lose regular power, after a brief period of 10-20 mins on backup power, all instruments will be down unless power returns. The building's air compressor isn't on emergency power. If power is lost, finish your experiments ASAP and stop using the instruments until further notice.

Daytime Use Quotas on Bruker 4/500 Doubled Over Holiday Break (12/23/2024)

During the holiday break, from now until Monday, Jan 6, the daytime usage quota on Bruker 400 has been raised to 2 hours with the longest single experiment to 1 hour; on Bruker 500, the daytime quota has been raised to 3 hours with the longest single experiment to 2 hours.

Enjoy a safe and fun holiday break!

Class Tour of NMR Facility 2-3 PM Thursday, Nov 7

A group of ~ 15 graduate students in a physical chemistry class will be introduced to NMR from 2-3 PM on Thursday, Nov 7, mostly in PSBN 3608 where the Bruker instruments are located. The room will be crowded. Bruker 500 won't be available to general users during the hour.

All users MUST retrieve old samples promptly (09/09/2024)

We have seen more old samples left unclaimed by the two Bruker instruments. All users must retrieve your old samples as soon as possible, even if you don't want the materials or tubes anymore. The NMR rooms as a shared space without a wet lab setup cannot be a dumpster of chemicals and NMR tubes. We'll have to address this issue as it becomes more challenging to deal with.

Please take the free samples, as many as you like. They are marked on the sides of the beakers on the cart and are mostly one to two weeks old.

HVAC Utility Work In NMR Rooms Today (08/27/2024)

Update, 10:16 AM: The NMR instruments can be used now. Room 3614 where Varian 600 is located is still being worked on. Cooling is off in that room.

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There is a crew of utility workers in the NMR rooms doing building-wise HVAC work. Several magnets have been covered with plastic sheets. The two Bruker instruments are still accessible. However, due to the crowdedness, noise and dust in the rooms, please avoid using the instruments as much as possible until the rooms are cleared by the end of the day.

13C Sensitivity on Bruker 500 vs Bruker 400 (6/14/2024)

Equipped with the Prodigy ColdProbe, Bruker 500 offers ~ 3 folds higher 13C sensitivity over that from Bruker 400 with a room-temperature probe. This gain translates into > 10X reduction in data collection time on Bruker 500 for the equivalent signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). If you regularly run 13C NMR, you can safely cut the number of scans on Bruker 500 from that typically used on Bruker 400 by 5-10 folds.

The following figure illustrates the SNR gain on Bruker 500 using the resonance at ~ 37 ppm. All parameters, except the number of scans, were set to identical values. SNR is notably higher with 16 scans on Bruker 500 than 128 scans on Bruker 400.

Comparing 13C Sensitivity on Bruker 500 (16 scans) and 400 (128 scans).

LOST & FOUND: Wallet Items Found Near Bruker 400 (06/12/2024)

A kind, anonymous user found several item near Bruker 400 that typically belong to a wallet. Please see Manager for identification and pickup.

Possible downtime due to testing compressed air 8-9am on Tuesday (05/27/2024)

The campus facility is doing annual maintenance and tests. On Tuesday, May 28, compressed air will be off from 8-9 am. This will likely disable the instruments until the air is turned back on. In particular, the coldprobe on Bruker 500 is likely to warm up after a brief use of backup air. Please watch out for air loss and don't use the instruments if the eject/insert air is weak.

NOAA Issues Warning of Severe Geomagnetic Storm (05/10/2024)

A rare, severe geomagnetic storm is hitting Earth over the weekend following multiple earth-directed coronal mass ejections from the Sun. NOAA has issued a rare G4-G5 (severe to extreme) storm warning of the dangers to the power grids (power surges and outages), network equipments and cellular signal interruption. The low-energy charged particles have little direct impact on indoor (shielded) equipment, but disruption to the NMR instruments is possible if a power loss occurs. If the regular power is lost, the building compressed air will be lost within 10-20 min. This disables sample eject and insert function even though the rest of the system is on backup power. If regular power is lost, finish your work ASAP, stop using the instrument any further and e-mail me about the power loss.

See NOAA's explanation of the warning scale here.

Bruker 500 Down From 10 AM, Tuesday for Probe Service (05/06/2024)

Update, 4:48 PM, Tuesday: The service work has been completed. The instrument is ready for use.

Earlier: After a long delay, the coldprobe service by a Bruker engineer has been scheduled for Tuesday, May 7. The instrument will be unavailable for use after 10 AM. If everything goes as planned, the instrument should be back up running later in the afternoon.

Check Queue Before Removing ANY Sample On Bruker 400/500 (05/03/2024)

Please carefully check the queue before removing any sample from the SampleCase. We continue to encounter problems especilaly with nightmode experiments when the samples are removed by other users before the experiments start. Note that some samples may be pushed to run over the following night if the current night queue exceeds a total of 12 hours. Additionally, depending on the current usage and without notice, I may change the day/night run or the order on site or remotely to accommodate the efficient flow of the experiments for all users.

Varian 500 is down. The computer is being repaired. (04/22/2024)

Update (04/23): After one likely faulty memory stick was removed, the computer has turned stable with the other stick. The instrument is now operational. Once the new pair of memory sticks arrive, they'll be installed.

Earlier: The workstation on Varian 500 has been crashing or freezing often over the past week. The issue is being examined. It looks like the memory modules in the computer may be the source of the problem. The replacement memory sticks have been ordered, but it may take a few days to get here. All user data are safe and have been backed up.

Dangers of Loose Wrappings or Tapes Around Sample Tubes (03/20/2024)

A set of NMR tubes with very loose and poorly wrapped sealing tapes were observed at Bruker 400 (see photo below). These are extremely dangerous to the instrument because the tapes unwrap easily and can fall into the magnet and probe, causing potentially extensive damage.

With the only exception for a red warning label for the presence of radioactive material, we generally do not allow any tape, wrapping, or removable label on the NMR tube. If any tube with obviously loose object on it is observed, any user may immediately remove it from the SampleCase and let me know. If there is a strong reason for using such tapes or labels, please talk with me first.

Dangerous, loose sealing tapes at Bruker 400

Mnova 15.0.1 Update, PlayFID Audio Tool (03/12/2024)

Mnova 15.0.1 has been released with bug fixes and a few new tools. Among them is a new Play FID tool accessible under Tools→NMR Tools→Play FID. With a 1D spectrum (or FID) displayed, simply go to the Play FID menu to explore the feature. You may change the spectrum frequency range and hear a changed tune by re-referencing the spectrum. To do so, you can either (1) apply a frequency shift under Processing→More Processing→Frequency shift ..., or (2) change the ppm value of any peak. The audible frequency (seen by displaying the spectrum in Hz or kHz), however, should be in 0 to ~ 40 kHz.

The frequency range of an FID (not the absolute frequency of a spin) overlaps with the audible frequency. Its detection and expression in sound has been available since the beginning of NMR. With modern technology, its use has been further explored.

Bruker 500: Possible One Day Downtime For Coldprobe Service This Week (02/26/2024)

Update, 02/28: The service visit has been postponed by 1-2 weeks beacause we haven't received all the needed parts.

A required coldprobe service is being arranged, possibly over this week. Once the schedule is known, the notice will be updated. We expect a downtime of ~ one day for Bruker 500.

Impact of Power Outage on NMR Instruments During Rainstorm (2/18/2024)

If you observe compressed air or regular power is lost, finish your work ASAP and stop using the instruments further. Please call or e-mail me if this happens.

This rainstorm appears to be on tarck to hit the Goleta and Santa Barbara area overnight. It may cause sporadic power outages over the next few days. If regular power is out, maybe even briefly, the building compressed air will likely go off and the air pressure will drop steadily over ~20 min. Once lost, compressed air will stay off until the building air compressors are manually turned back on by the campus facility people.

All sample eject/insert operation will fail quickly once the air pressure drops below a certain level. On Bruker 500, after the loss of air, the sample will be ejected and the coldprobe will automatically warm up after a brief period with backup air for sample eject. If the sample is stuck in the sample transport anywhere on the Bruker instruments, do not attempt to manually remove it; leave it as is and let me know.

Except compressed air, all other parts of NMR are connected to our UPS backup power in addition to building E-power and they should function as intended.

See real-time and projected Radar at weather.com. Weather Underground also has helpful real-time weather data.

Quotas and Limits Raised on Bruker 400/500 Over Winter Break (12/19/2023)

Over the winter break, from now until early January, the quotas and longest experiment limits for daytime runs have been raised to the following: ~ 2 hr/user/day and ~ 1 hr longest single experiment on Bruker 400, ~ 2.5 hr/user/day and ~ 2 hr longest single experiment on Bruker 500. IconNMR automatically asks the user to change the experiments from daytime to nightmode runs if these limits are exceeded. If the daytime use is congested in certain days, please use more nightmode runs accordingly.

Have a peaceful and fun winter break! The Facility remains operational through the holidays. I'll take some time off sporadically over the break but will remain accessible through e-mails. For instrument related emergencies, please call my cellphone number posted on the sides of several magnets and on my office door.

Leftover Unclaimed Samples Will Be Destroyed (12/18/2023)

01/17/2024: All samples left on the cart next to Bruker 400 and 500 will be destroyed after Saturday, Jan 20.

We've seen increasingly more unclaimed samples by Bruker 400 and 500 left on the cart after 12PM Friday. They are at least one week old passing the deadline. If nobody wants to take the samples left on the cart passing each deadline, we'll have to destroy some or all of them. No further notice will be given. Please take as many NMR tubes left on the cart as you like for reuse after 12PM each Friday.

Look for a sample labeled "SRM-26a2" from last week (11/06/23)

A user is looking for an important sample that was left in the Bruker 400 area last Wednesday. It has a marking "SRM-26a2" on it. If you accidentally picked it up from the workstation table, or picked it up from the old sample beakers left on the cart that were free to take after 12PM on Friday, please let me know. The sample is very important to a user.

Chembio Lab Class Schedule on Bruker 500 Next Week (10/19/2023)

The following is the scheduled use of Bruker 500 by the Chembio lab class. All other users: please do not run any daytime experiments during the scheduled class time. All experiments running into these designated times will be halted if necessary. However, you may set up and submit nightmode runs if the students are not in the NMR room at the time. Updated notices will be posted at the workstation next week.

• Monday 10/23: 5:30-9:20 PM
• Tuesday 10/24: 1:00-4:50 PM and 5:30-9:20 PM

Utility work over next few days in NMR room 3608 (10/17/2023)

Update (10/18): Work has been temporarily completed. It'll resume later next week to have new pipes and insulation installed. Plastic covers over the Bruker 400 and 500 magnets will remain in place until tomorrow afternoon.

Earlier: There will be more HVAC work near Bruker 400 and 500 over the next few days. Brief disruption to instrument access is expected. Please use caution in the area. Some old pipes and insulation below the ceiling will be replaced. Dust is an issue during the process. Tarps and plastic covers will be used to prevent dust from spreading, especially into the magnets.

Utility Work Over the Weekend in NMR Room 3608 (10/13/2023)

The campus facility will do some HVAC work over the weekend, likely on Saturday, for the room next door. The work area is mostly located near the wall next to the Varian 500 workstation and may only briefly impact Varian 500 use. I will post safety warning notices in the NMR room to warn the utility workers to stay away from the magnets.

HVAC work in our own NMR rooms will continue on and off. Unfortunately, there was a mixup in their earlier work that turned out not fixing the issues in the NMR room but it is affecting the next door room. I have asked further work to be delayed till later this year.

Proper Group Delay Setting in Mnova for Bruker Data (10/06/2023)

This is a repost of earlier note. Some users might not have correctly set the Group Delay option to best deal with Bruker data, espicailly if you have an order version of Mnova where this "enhanced correction" option may not be the default. The impact is on the rising or dipping edges of the spectrum and possibly baseline rolling due to incorrect, large 1st order phase correction as seen in some spectra with a very wide spectral window. See earlier notice on this important setting. Please check this setting in Mnova and set it according to the procedure below.

Set the option to "Enhanced Correction" as default

Power Outage Possible During Hurricane Hilary (08/18/2023)

The historic hurricane Hilary will swipe this area Sunday to Monday. We may experience sporadic power outage that may affect the NMR instruments. If you obseve a power ourtage in the chemistry or PSBN building, please e-mail me a note.

For the latest information about the track and strength of the hurricane, see the updates by National Hurricane Center, real-time satellite imaging at NOAA and our local news KEYT. To update your emergency contact at SB county, visit ReadySBC.

All Users Must Update Mnova Licenses (08/17/2023)

Economy Grade NMR Tubes and Caps Available from Storeroom (07/03/2023)

Wilmad Lab-Glass economy NMR tubes (5 mm in diameter, 8 inch long) are now available from our chem storeroom for purchase. These NMR tubes are sold by the box of 25 tubes at an attractive price; they are most suitable for high throughput NMR with the automatic sample case. Make sure to clearly specify the type of NMR tubes you need at the storeroom: economy, precision or quartz NMR tubes. The price is drastically different between them. Mixed colored NMR tube caps (sold by the bag of 100 caps) are also available.

Note that for the best NMR data quality and especially for all variable temperature experiments, precision NMR tubes should be used. For the best 11B NMR, quartz NMR tubes are recommended to minimize the 11B background signal. The compromises made in the glass material and manufacturing of the economy NMR tubes are noted in Wilmad's specifications.

Sample Unloading Problem on Bruker 400 (06/30/2023)

There have been quite a few sample unloading failures on Bruker 400 since last night. The sample transport and sample case have been checked. The failure is sporadic but seems less frequent or gone now.

After the sample case was opened, a few pieces of broken glass from NMR tubes were found inside and in the gaps of the sample case. To prevent breaking sample tubes above the sample case which may cause failures of the light sensors and case rotation, do not try to insert or remove a sample tube while the case is rotating. If the sample gets stuck in the transport above the magnet, do not remove it with your hand or touch any part of the transport trying to wiggle it out. You may follow the instruction posted on the side of the magnet to manually eject the sample in Topspin. If that fails, leave it alone and contact me.

Reduction of Daytime Usage Quota on Bruker 400 and 500 (06/15/2023)

Due to much increased use of the two Bruker instruments, we have to cut down the daytime usage quota for each user. The daytime hours are 10am-11pm on Bruker 400, and 10am-10pm on Bruker 500.

Effectively immediately, the total day runtime quota (excluding overhead time including sample loading, locking, tuning and shimming) is set to 1.0 hour per user per day on Bruker 400, and 1.5 hours on Bruker 500. The longest single experiment runtime is 30 mins on Bruker 400 and 1.0 hour on Bruker 500. Over these limits, IconNMR will prompt the user to submit the experiments in nightmode. The nightmode start and end times remain the same on each instrument. We will watch the impact of these changes and revise the rules accordingly.

These are general rules and do not apply to special circumstances and experiments. Please contact me for such arrangements. Additionally, I may change the day/night running mode of queued experiments according to the usage and demand of the day.

Water Leak, Wet Carpet Near Varian 500 (06/05/2023)

Water leaked from the pump from the air conditioner near Varian 500, wetting the carpet near the desk. The air condtioner has been turned off. We'll try to remove that area of the carpet in coming days due to repeated water leaks over the years. Before that, Varian 500 can be used as usual.

NMR Tube Quality, Use and Washing Precautions (05/28/2023)

Especially for an economy grade NMR tube, if there is any defect or scratch that is visible on the NMR tube, the tube should be discarded.

Due to the extensive use of the automatic sample lifts on the two Bruker spectrometers, there have been a large number of economy grade NMR tubes in use; many have been used indefinitely for a long period of time and their quality has deteriorated. Please keep in mind that economy NMR tubes, while adequate for most routine NMR at over 10 times lower cost, are made of lower grade glass and are not manufactured to the same high standard as the precision tubes. This leads to a small compromise in lineshape and width.

Importantly, the economy NMR tubes are only intended for work under ambient temperature (~ 15C to 35C) and should not be used under or put through very low or high temperature including improper drying cycles during tube cleaning involving rapid heating or cooling.

Here are some notes from Wilmad on the quality, limitation and proper use of the economy grade NMR tubes:

Wilmad-LabGlass Economy NMR Tubes are manufactured from borosilicate glass that meets the ASTM Type 1 Class B standard and recognized as N51A. Due to its nature, this glass has much less thermal-shock resistance than Class A glass used for our Precision Tubes. It may contain Fe2O3 which is paramagnetic (1200 ppm) and has certain impact on shimming quality depending on the magnetic field strength. Economy tubes are recommended only for experiments with small organic molecule (Molecular Weight ~500) at ambient temperature only. The camber and concentricy listed in the product specification table is the upper limit value ... Cooling/heating of these tubes may lead to breakage. For NMR experiments that involve cooling, heating, biological sample, multi-dimension, multi-nuclei or DNP techniques, please refer to our Precision brand NMR Tubes.

For the best data quality and use in variable temperature experiments, choose precision NMR tubes (available from Chem Store). Precision NMR tubes have the letters -PP- or -PS- in the tube marking while the economy or high throughput tubes carry the letters WG-. Additional technical documents and procedures can be found on Wilmad's website.

See Proper Cleaning Procedures for NMR Tubes. Note that "Drying tubes at elevated temperatures can reshape and ruin precision NMR tubes. For this reason, Wilmad does not recommend drying NMR tube under any circumstances. An alternative way is to use vacuum oven that will remove water at lower temperatures."

Room air filter change early tomorrow may disrupt air supply (05/24/2023)

Update (05/25): Completed.

We'll have campus facility do some maintenance work on the main air filter in the NMR room. This may cause a brief interruption to the room compressed air. Please observe any new notice about the progress of this work. I expect the work to start ~ 8am and finish by ~9am.

Data transfer & web status may not work due to network issues (05/17/2023))

It appears data transfer and VPN connection to the chem network in general isn't working rigth now. The web status of the instruments doesn't reflect its true history and status. Please go to the NMR lab to submit/check your experiments. All instruments should function independently from the IconNMR web status display and data transfer. IT is aware of the problem and is working to resolve it.

CAUTION: E-Power test 7-8AM Wednesday (05/16/2023)

The E-power test tomorrow between 7-8am may cause the loss of compressed air and warmup of the cold probe on Bruker 500. To be safe, do not let nightmode experiments run past 7am until the test is over. If the coldprobe warms up, it may take a few hours for it to cool down again for use.

Mnova 14.3.2 Update Available (04/21/2023)

This is a minor update with many bug fixes and improvements. See Mestrelab website for details. For newer versions of Mnova, there is no need to uninstall the prior version before the update. For very old versions, it is a good idea to uninstall the old one before installing the new one. For fresh install and obtaining our site license, follow this instruction closely, especially notes regarding the allowed network connection for license activation.

DO NOT Use Loose Tapes on NMR Tubes (03/13/2023)

Loose tapes or loosely attached labels are ABSOLUTELY not allowed. A set of NMR tubes wrapped with loose black tapes were found at both Bruker 500 and 400. Many of these sticky tapes have unwrapped loose and posed serious risk of falling off and getting trapped in the magnet or probe.

Loose Tapes at Bruker 500/400

Unless absolutely necessary, any tapes or physical labels on the NMR tubes should be avoided. Simply label the side or the cap of the NMR tube with a sharpie and pick up your samples soon after the run.

If you observe such NMR tubes with loose tapes or labels, remove them from the SampleCase immediately regardless of their queue or run status and let me know about it.

Burning smell in NMR rooms is from radiant heaters (03/06/2023)

Several safe, oil-filled radiant electric heaters have been placed in the NMR rooms to help maintain a reasonable room temperature, especially at night. Two are in room 3608 and one in room 3614. They are placed away from gas tanks and the magnets. These heaters may emit a burning smell for some time, but the smell will go away over time. Please let me know any issues you may observe with the heaters.

Precautions for Power Outage and Loss of Compressed Air (02/23/2023)

Severe weather over the next week means we may lose power and compressed air. All instruments are on E-power backed by UPS battery power at each instrument. However, building compressed air will be down following a power outage which will disable all instruments. On Bruker 500, the cold probe will start to warm up after ~ 10 min without compressed air. If regular power is lost, finish your work ASAP, stop using any NMR instrument any further until regular power returns. Please let me know if there is a power loss.

Display Monitor Changes on Varian 500 & 600 (02/11/2023)

The displays for Varian 500 and 600 have been replaced with new, good quality Dell 27 inch monitors with built-in low blue light screen for eye protection. I have managed to finally fix most issues and get them to work with the native Nvidia driver and accelerated graphics. If you observe any display related issues, please let me know.

Varian 500 Fixed for C13 Detection (02/14/2023)

Update (02/14): The part has finally arrived. It fixed the problem immediately. You may use it for 1H or 13C detection.
Update (02/01): We are waiting for customs clearance for the replacement part to be shipped from Germany.
Update (01/25): A spare frequency synthesizer is being acquired from Germany. Once it arrives in ~ two weeks, hopefully it'll fix the problem.

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Earlier: There is a problem with 13C detection with 1H decoupling and NOE. One of the frequency synthesizers may be having trouble. This doesn't affect 1H NMR. Please use Bruker 400 and 500 for 13C detection for now.

Power Outage Possible Due To Severe Weather In Coming Days (01/08/2023)

On the anniversary of the historical storm on Jan 9, 2018 that led to the tragic Montecito mudslide, another severe storm is forcast in the coming few days, espicially on Monday (Jan 9) and overnight into Tuesday morning.

There will likely be sporadic power outages across the area. If the regular power is lost, finish/halt your work and stop using the instruments immediately even though the instrument may remain functioning for some time using its backup power.

The building compressed air will be down in 10-20 mins once regular power is lost, disabling sample eject/insert ability. Do not insert a sample if the sample inside cannot be ejected or there is no hissing sound of compressed air during the operation. The cold probe on Bruker 500 will warm up automatically after the compressed air is gone for a short period ( ~ 10 mins).

Santa Barbara county has issued evacuation warnings and may upgrade the order. You may check the warning area by the address on this website. Stay safe!

Earlier notices

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