Novel ²H NMR Methods for Studying Quadrupolar and Shielding Interactions in Dia- and Paramagnetic Solids

(short statement of outcomes for GR/S96579)

There was no significant difference between the planned and actual expenditure on the grant: Miss Marica Cutajar was recruited from the University of Malta and spent 3 years as a project student working on the development of ²H NMR spectroscopy in my laboratory.

Early on in the project we developed a novel ²H NMR method for studying dynamics in solids and this work took precedence over the proposed work on paramagnetic solids.

Just 7 weeks after the start of this project, the University of Exeter announced that it was shutting its Department of Chemistry within 9 months and that it expected the vast majority of staff and students to then depart. In view of this, Marica and I are (I think) justifiably proud of the quality of research we have delivered on this grant.

Marica is now working as a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Child Health in London; a first draft of her PhD thesis has been completed and I expect her to submit in the next month or two.

Highlights of the funded research include:

– 5 papers published or submitted so far in refereed journals; at least 1 more to follow

– 1 of these papers appeared as "Editor's Choice" in Chemical Physics Letters (doi:10.1016/j.cplett.2007.12.071)

– 2 invited conference talks by Marica Cutajar (1 international)

– 4 international poster presentations by Marica Cutajar

– 1 of these posters awarded the Regitze R. Vold Memorial Prize "for the best poster presented by a student" at the 2005 Alpine Conference on Solid-State NMR in Chamonix, France (http://www.ens-lyon.fr/CHIMIE/alpine/archives/poster-prize.php)

Steve Wimperis

Glasgow, 25 March 2008