The PANACEA project is a public-private and interdisciplinary collaboration with several academic and industrial organisations with the aim to provide access to innovative instrumentation and experiments in solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to European chemists.
Magnetic Resonance Research Center
The Magnetic Resonance Research Center (MRRC) of the Institute for Molecules and Materials (IMM) of Radboud University is a partner in this European project. Prof. Arno Kentgens, professor for magnetic resonance research and director of the MRRC, is looking forward to working together in this interdisciplinary team. “This project makes it possible to give European researchers access to our high-field NMR spectrometers, this often leads to interesting research collaborations. In that respect, the many network activities are also very valuable. Finally, the joint research activities of this consortium will allow us to develop novel micro NMR probe heads at the highest available NMR fields that may open up navel areas of application”, Kentgens says.
NMR spectroscopy
Development of modern chemistry relies on the capacity for atomic level investigation of increasingly complex solid substrates in frontier research areas crossing disciplines from catalysis and energy materials through polymers to pharmaceutical formulations and medical implants. Thanks to a number of recent breakthroughs in instrumentation and methodology, solid-state NMR spectroscopy is uniquely positioned today for the characterisation of structure and dynamics at the atomic-level, and can reveal morphology in solids. However, such state-of- the-art methods rely on the use of sophisticated and costly solid-state NMR equipment that is only available in a handful of national facilities. The rarity of the instrumentation and associated operational know-how has restricted the uptake of these enabling methods by the broader base.
Access to research infrastructure
PANACEA will address this issue by bringing together, and integrating on the European scale, seven national infrastructures across Europe and to incorporate one infrastructure in the United States, and open them to all European researchers, ensuring their optimal use and joint development. Specifically, the project will provide users with transnational access (1700 instrument days) to more than 30 unique NMR spectrometers ranging from 100 to 1500 MHz, fully equipped to cover the most advanced solid-state NMR techniques and applications. Additionally, a series of networking activities is designed to harmonise and optimise access procedures and interfaces, so to facilitate the use of modern solid-state NMR by non-expert users, and widen the opportunities for novel application areas in chemistry (pharmaceuticals, fine chemicals, cosmetics, food, materials, fuel, polymers, and clean energy industries).
Implement novel technical knowledge & ideas
The research team will also stimulate technical innovation through direct partnerships, both with four NMR technology providers in the consortium and with transnational access users in the broad chemical industry. This will be supported and developed by extensive industry related networking activities, and by industrial participation in the advisory board of the integrated Infrastructure.
