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David Bryce (Department of Chemistry)

Christian Detellier (Department of Chemistry)

Natalie Goto (Department of Chemistry)

Glenn Facey (NMR Facility, Faculty of Science)

University of Ottawa NMR Facility Blog (Glenn Facey)

EFGShield


CCSB 2012 (Feb 5/12)

We are pleased to announce the 2nd China Canada Systems Biology Conference and the 19th Methods in Protein Structure Analysis, which will take place at the Ottawa Convention Centre, Ottawa, Canada from June 25-28, 2012. The 2012 symposium is being organized and hosted by the Ottawa Institute of Systems Biology (University of Ottawa), The International Association for Protein Structure Analysis and Proteomics, and the China-Ontario BioAnalytic Consortium (COBAC).

The goal of this meeting is to bring together internationally recognized scientists and students in the field of systems biology, protein biochemistry, and proteomics to promote scientific discussion and the development of new collaborations.

Of special interest for NMR spectroscopists will be the session "Dynamic links between protein structure and function". Invited speakers to this session include Lewis Kay (University of Toronto), Katherine Henzler-Wildman (Washington University School of Medicine), Gianluigi Veglia (University of Minnesota), Kevin Gardner (University of Texas Southwestern) and Dorothee Kern (Brandeis).

More information can be found at http://www.oisb.ca/june_2012_symposium/ccsb_2012.htm

Registration is now open. Abstract submission deadline is May 15th, 2012.

Natalie Goto

Associate Professor

Department of Chemistry
University of Ottawa
10 Marie Curie
Ottawa, ON, K1N 6N5

email: Natalie.Goto "at" uottawa.ca
Tel (613) 562-5800 (6918)
Fax (613) 562-5170
Web: http://mysite.science.uottawa.ca/ngoto/Welcome.html


Canadian eventUniversity of Ottawa (August 10/11)

"Vision 2020" Postdoctoral Fellowship in solid-state NMR

Application deadline: 31 August 2011

The University of Ottawa, with the support of the Province of Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation, has announced a highly competitive competition for Vision 2020 Postdoctoral Fellowships.

Vision 2020 Postdoctoral Scholarships (external link, UofO)

We invite you to take part in this competition if you are interested in continuing your research career in solid-state NMR spectroscopy of low-gamma quadrupolar nuclei, biomolecular NMR spectroscopy, solid-state NMR of inorganic and bioinorganic systems, interpretation and quantum chemical calculation of NMR interaction tensors. You will be working in one of the Canada's leading solid-state NMR research groups at the Department of Chemistry under the supervision of Prof. David Bryce. At the University of Ottawa you will have access to wide-bore 200, 400 and 500 MHz Bruker solids NMR spectrometers, and to a one-of-a-kind 900 MHz NMR spectrometer at the National Ultrahigh-Field NMR Facility for Solids (http://www.nmr900.ca).

Interested individuals should contact David Bryce:

Prof. David Bryce
Department of Chemistry
10 Marie Curie Private
University of Ottawa
Ottawa, Ontario K1N6N5
Canada

phone: 613-562-5800 ext 2018
fax: 613-562-5170
email: dbryce "at" uottawa.ca
web: http://www.science.uottawa.ca/~dbryc159/


Cover article in Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics (July 4/11)

PCCP 2011

Cory M. Widdifield, Alex D. Bain, and David L. Bryce, "Definitive Solid-State 185/187Re NMR Spectral Evidence for and Analysis of the Origin of High-Order Quadrupole-Induced Effects for I = 5/2," Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 13 (2011) 12413-12420. (Cover Article) http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c1cp20572b


Thi
s is the tenth cover article featuring results obtained using 900resources of the National Ultrahigh-Field NMR Facility for Solids. See our cover gallery and the complete list of research publications enabled by the Facility here (complete list).



CSC 2011 awards: Jasmine Viger-Gravel (June 30/11)

Jasmine Viger-Gravel (Bryce lab, University of Ottawa) has won second prize in the Physical, Theoretical, and Computational Division graduate poster competition at the 94th Canadian Chemistry Conference held in Montreal in June 2011, for her poster entitled "Solid-State NMR Analysis of Halogen Bonding Involving Thiocyanates and Selenocyanates" (abstract). Congratulations, Jasmine!


Encyclopedia of Magnetic ResonanceEncyclopedia of Magnetic Resonance: new entries (June 17/11)

D.L. Bryce, C.M. Widdifield, R.P. Chapman and R.J. Attrell, "Chlorine, Bromine, and Iodine Solid-State NMR", Encyclopedia of Magnetic Resonance (2011). http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9780470034590.emrstm1214

A.D. Bain "Radiofrequency Pulses: Response of Nuclear Spins", Encyclopedia of Magnetic Resonance (2011). http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9780470034590.emrstm0443.pub2

G.J. Schrobilgen and M. Gerken, "Noble Gas Elements", Encyclopedia of Magnetic Resonance (2011). http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/9780470034590.emrstm0346.pub2


PCCP lists 25 most cited Canadian research articles (April 17/11)

Physical Chemisty Chemical Physics has announced that the Canadian Society for Chemistry (CSC) is now one of its co-owner societies. To celebrate this new partnership, PCCP has created a collection of 25 top cited articles from authors based in Canada to showcase some of the great Canadian research published in PCCP. Five articles on this list are from Canadian solid-state NMR research groups, including four papers enabled by the National Ultrahigh-Field NMR Facility for Solids.

900C.M. Widdifield and D.L. Bryce, "Crystallographic Structure Refinement with Quadrupolar Nuclei: a Combined Solid-State NMR and GIPAW DFT Example Using MgBr2," Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 11 (2009) 7120-7122. http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/b911448n
 
900D.H. Brouwer, S. Alavi and J.A. Ripmeester, "NMR Crystallography of p-tert-Butylcalix[4]arene Host-Guest Complexes Using 1H Complexation-Induced Chemical Shifts," Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 10 (2008) 3857-3860. (Cover Article) http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/b805326j
 
900L.A. O'Dell and R.W. Schurko, "Static solid-state 14N NMR and computational studies of nitrogen EFG tensors in some crystalline amino acids," Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 11 (2009) 7069-7077. http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/b906114b
 
S. Cadars, D.H. Brouwer and B.F. Chmelka, "Probing local structures of siliceous zeolite frameworks by solid-state NMR and first-principles calculations of 29Si–O–29Si scalar couplings," Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 11 (2009) 1825-1837. http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/b815361b
 

900M.A.M. Forgeron and R.E. Wasylishen, "Molybdenum magnetic shielding and quadrupolar tensors for a series of molybdate salts: a solid-state 95Mo NMR study," Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 10 (2008) 574-581. http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/b713276j
 


Recognition: David Bryce (Feb 17/11)

David Bryce has been awarded the 2011 Young Researcher of the Year Award presented by the University of Ottawa. The Young Researcher of the Year Awards are presented annually to two University of Ottawa faculty members who have made exceptional contributions to research and training students. Each award is accompanied by a $10,000 research grant.

From the citation: "David Bryce is an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry. He received the award in the pure and applied science category for his contributions in the field of nuclear magnetic resonance. He has already established himself as a leader on the international scene within his field. His research focuses on nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, specifically, solid-state NMR and quantum mechanical calculations of NMR parameters."

Read the announcement at
http://www.media.uottawa.ca/mediaroom/news-details_2239.html


Thesis Defenses (Jan 20/11)

Jasmine Viger-Gravel (University of Ottawa) December 2010
Supervisor: David Bryce
B.Sc. honours thesis: "Solid-state NMR Analysis of Halogen Bonding Involving Thiocyanates and Selenocyanates"

Joseph Weiss
(University of Ottawa) December 2010
Supervisor: David Bryce
M.Sc. thesis: "A Solid-State 11B NMR and Computational Study of Boron Electric Field Gradient and Chemical Shift Tensors in Boronic Acids and Boronic Esters"


Cover article in Angewandte Chemie (Nov 18/10)

acie2010

Low concentration and poor sensitivity often hinder or make impossible solid-state 17O NMR in large biomolecular systems. In this cover article in Angewandte Chemie Gang Wu (Queen’s) and co-workers from the University of Ottawa and NRC Canada show that at an ultrahigh magnetic field of 21 T the high quality solid-state 17O NMR spectra can be obtained for large protein–ligand complexes of up to 300 kDa in size. Complementary multinuclear 17O, 27Al, and 13C NMR data obtained in this work have aided in the structural refinement for an ovotransferrin bound Al-oxalate complex.

Jianfeng Zhu, Eric Ye, Victor Terskikh, and Gang Wu, "Solid-State 17O NMR Spectroscopy of Large Protein-Ligand Complexes," Angewandte Chemie International Edition 49 (2010) 8399-8402. (Cover Article) http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/anie.201002041

Softpedia, November 18, 2010
Molecular Oxygen Studies Targeted by New Tool
(online)

Queen's University News Center, November 17, 2010
Scientists discover new method for studying molecules
(online)

This is an ninth cover article featuring results obtained using resources of the National Ultrahigh-Field NMR Facility for Solids. See our cover gallery and the complete list of research publications enabled by the Facility here (complete list).


Cover article in Dalton Transactions (Sept 15/10)

dt2010

David Bryce (University of Ottawa) has written a Perspective for Dalton Transactions about recent advancements in 43Ca NMR spectroscopy and its applications in materials science.

David L. Bryce "Calcium Binding Environments Probed by 43Ca NMR Spectroscopy," Dalton Transactions 39 (2010) 8593-8602. (Cover Article). http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c0dt00416b

This Perspective is featured on the cover of the current Dalton Transaction issue (2010, #37), and was recently highlighted by SpectroscopyNow

This is an eighth cover article featuring results obtained using resources of the National Ultrahigh-Field NMR Facility for Solids. See our cover gallery and the complete list of research publications enabled by the Facility here (complete list).


Opportunities for studying polymorphs and cement-based materials via Ca-43 solid-state NMR

June 11, 2010, University of Ottawa

Calcium is an important component in diverse materials and biochemicals. However, NMR spectroscopy of the only spin-active calcium isotope, Ca-43, is notoriously challenging due to its low natural abundance (0.14 %), low resonance frequency, and quadrupolar nature. Recently, researchers from the University of Ottawa, the NRC Steacie Institute for Molecular Sciences (SIMS-NRC), and Dalhousie University have independently reported advances in studies of inorganic polymorphs and cement-based materials using Ca-43 solid-state NMR spectroscopy.

"In spite of the great complexity of the calcium silicate chemistry involved in the hydration of Portland cement, we have shown that Ca-43 solid-state NMR provides useful new insights into cement chemistry", says Igor Moudrakovski (SIMS-NRC) of his collaboration with the Institute for Research in Construction (SIMS-IRC). Josef Zwanziger (Dalhousie) and his academic and industrial partners have similarly applied Ca-43 NMR in their project on the development, optimization and commercialization of high performance cement based composite materials.

Zwanziger explains, "we are trying to understand the nature of the composite-cement interface, and the mechanisms of toughening and strengthening in concrete composites. Calcium NMR is one of the many tools which is shedding light on the nature of the interface." At the University of Ottawa, David Bryce and his research group have demonstrated the utility of calcium NMR in understanding polymorphism in solids. This work has implications for understanding biomaterials as well as inorganic materials.

Because Ca-43 NMR in solid state requires a very strong magnetic field for sensitivity reasons, all these experiments were carried out at the National Ultrahigh-Field NMR Facility for Solids, a national user facility managed by the University of Ottawa and housed on NRC's Ottawa campus, which houses Canada's only 21.1 T (900 MHz) NMR spectrometer.

The latest calcium NMR research has been published in PCCP and J. Am. Chem. Soc., and a perspective on the state of the field is now available in Dalton Transactions (Bryce, 2010).

David L. Bryce "Calcium Binding Environments Probed by 43Ca NMR Spectroscopy," Dalton Transactions (2010) online. http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c0dt00416b

Igor Moudrakovski, Rouhollah Alizadeh, James J. Beaudoin, "Natural abundance high field 43Ca solid state NMR in cement science," Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 12 (2010) 6961-6969. http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c000353k

David L. Bryce, Elijah B. Bultz, and Dominic Aebi, "Calcium-43 Chemical Shift Tensors as Probes of Calcium Binding Environments. Insight into the Structure of the Vaterite CaCO3 Polymorph by 43Ca Solid-State NMR Spectroscopy," Journal of the American Chemical Society 130 (2008) 9282–9292. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ja8017253


Student Recognition (May 25/10)

Fred Perras (Bryce Group, University of Ottawa) has been awarded the CSC prize for his poster entitled "Exploring the Validity of Common Assumptions Made in the Characterization of J Coupling Tensor Anisotropies" which was presented at the Ottawa-Carleton Chemistry Institute Day on May 28, 2010.

Rob Attrell (Bryce Group, University of Ottawa) has been awarded the 2010 Hypercube Scholar prize for his honours thesis entitled "A Solid-State Halogen NMR and Computational Study of Quadrupolar and Chemical Shift Tensors in Anilinium Halide Salts Exhibiting Halogen Bonding".
About the prize: Hypercube Inc. provides an award to the student whose prospective graduate studies program entails significant molecular modelling. The award consists of a framed certificate and a copy of the HyperChem software package.

Share your students success with the Canadian NMR community (E-mail).


Radio-Canada: interview with David Bryce (May 22/10)

Les Chercheurs

Dans le cadre de notre série sur les Chercheurs, nous recevons cette semaine David Bryce, professeur agrégé au Département de chimie et chercheur au Centre de recherche et d'innovation en catalyse de l'Université d'Ottawa (Radio-Canada).


Thesis Defenses (April 29/10)

Robert Attrell
(University of Ottawa) April 2010
Supervisor: David Bryce
B.Sc. honours thesis: "A Solid-State Halogen NMR and Computational Study of Quadrupolar and Chemical Shift Tensors in Anilinium Halide Salts Exhibiting Halogen Bonding"

NSERC 2010 Grants Competition Results (April 12/10)

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) has announced results of the 2010 NSERC competition in the Discovery Grants Program (DG), Research Tools and Instruments Grants (RTI) and Scholarship programs. Among grant recipients

David Bryce's (University of Ottawa) NSERC Discovery Grant has been renewed at $61000 per year for 5 years.

The National Ultrahigh-Field NMR Facility for Solids has received NSERC RTI funding for a cryogen-free cooler for the 900 MHz NMR spectrometer. Once installed, the sample cooler will provides powerful, stable and reliable cryogen-free cooling down to -80oC to samples in existing MAS and static NMR probes. This successful application to NSERC was a collaborative effort of three of the Facility users, David Bryce (University of Ottawa), Roderick Wasylishen (University of Alberta), and John Ripmeester (Carleton University).

Share your success with the Canadian NMR community (E-mail).


CSC 2010: Solid-State NMR Symposium (updated Jan 28/10)

Dear NMR colleagues,

Gillian Goward and myself are organizing a symposium entitled "Solid-State NMR: Methods and Applications" at the 93rd Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition in Toronto. The symposium is scheduled for the afternoon of Sunday, May 30 and all day Monday, May 31.

I would like to encourage you and your students to consider submitting abstracts for 20-minute talks and/or posters through the following link:

http://www.csc2010.ca/program/submit_abstract.html

The deadline for abstract submissions is February 15.

Confirmed speakers: Alex Bain (McMaster), Andreas Brinkmann (NRC-SIMS), Arno Kentgens (Radboud University, Nijmegen), Gang Wu (Queen's), Gillian Goward (McMaster), John Ripmeester (NRC-SIMS), Josef Zwanziger (Dalhousie), Kristopher Ooms (The King's University College, Edmonton), Marek Pruski (Iowa), Megan Spence (Pittsburgh), Peter MacDonald (Toronto), Robert Schurko (Windsor), Roderick Wasylishen (Alberta), Scott Kroeker (Manitoba), Simon Sharpe (Sick Kids), Timothy Cross (National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Tallahassee), Vladimir Ladizhansky (Guelph)

Thank you, and we look forward to seeing you in Toronto!

Dave Bryce (web)

The National Ultrahigh-Field NMR Facility for Solids Annual Workshop will take place on Saturday May 29.


NMR seminar : University of Ottawa, Department of Chemistry

Friday, September 4, 2009, at 11:30 am

University of Ottawa (D’Iorio Hall, room 214)

Prof. Gillian Goward (McMaster) "Ion Dynamics and Transport Phenomena in Materials for Energy Storage and Conversion" (inquire with David Bryce)

web: http://www.chemistry.mcmaster.ca/people/faculty/goward/index.html


PCCP themed issue: Solid-State NMR spectroscopy (August 4/09)

chem comm

This high-profile special issue of PCCP guest-edited by Paul Hodgkinson (Durham, UK) and Stephen Wimperis (Glasgow, UK) will be presented to the participants of the upcoming 6th Alpine Conference on Solid-State NMR in September 2009 (conference web-site). Among many excellent reviews and research papers highlighting recent trends and progress in the field of solid-state NMR spectroscopy there are four by Canadian researchers, including the front cover article by Gang Wu and colleagues from Queen's.

Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, volume 11, issue 32, 2009

Pedro M. Aguiar, Michael J. Katz, Daniel B. Leznoff and Scott Kroeker, "Natural abundance 13C and 15N solid-state NMR analysis of paramagnetic transition-metal cyanide coordination polymers," Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 11 (2009) 6925-6934. (Invited Article, Themed Issue) http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/b907747b

Jianfeng Zhu, Amanda J. Geris and Gang Wu, "Solid-state 17O NMR as a sensitive probe of keto and gem-diol forms of alpha-keto acid derivatives," Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 11 (2009) 6972-6980. (Cover Article, Themed Issue) http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/b906438a

Rebecca P. Chapman and David L. Bryce, "Application of Multinuclear Magnetic Resonance and Gauge-Including Projector-Augmented Wave Calculations to the Study of Solid Group 13 Chlorides," Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 11 (2009) 6987-6998. (Invited Article, Themed Issue) http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/b906627f

Luke A. O'Dell and Robert W. Schurko, "Static solid-state 14N NMR and computational studies of nitrogen EFG tensors in some crystalline amino acids," Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics 11 (2009) 7069-7077. (Invited Article, Themed Issue) http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/b906114b


Review in Progress in NMR Spectroscopy (July 31/09)

pccp_cover

Quadrupolar halogens find widespread use i.e. in pharmaceutical formulations. Solid-state NMR provides a direct mean to probe local halogen
environment in these systems. This recent review in Progress in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy by a team from the University of Ottawa summarizes current advancements in the field. The most progress in recent years has been achieved due to broader availability of ultrahigh-field NMR spectrometers, including the one located in Ottawa, at the Canadian National Ultrahigh-Field NMR Facility for Solids (www.nmr900.ca).


Rebecca P. Chapman, Cory M. Widdifield and David L. Bryce, "Solid-State NMR of Quadrupolar Halogen Nuclei," Progress in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy 55 (2009) 215–237. (Invited Review) http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pnmrs.2009.05.001


Review in Annual Reports on NMR Spectroscopy (July 20/09)

Annual Reports

Cory Widdifield, Rebecca Chapman, and David Bryce from the University of Ottawa have just published a long-awaited review in Annual Reports on NMR Spectroscopy on solid-state NMR of quadrupolar halogen nuclei. This review will be of interest not only to material scientists and NMR spectroscopists, but also to students and those just learning about solid-state NMR of half-integer quadrupolar nuclei.


Cory M. Widdifield, Rebecca P. Chapman, and David L. Bryce
, "Chlorine, Bromine, and Iodine Solid-State NMR Spectroscopy," Annual Reports on NMR Spectroscopy 66 (2009) 195-326. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0066-4103(08)00405-5
EFGShield 2.3 is available for download (May 6/09)

If you use Gaussian to help interpret your solid-state NMR Sam Adiga, Dom Aebi and David Bryce (University of Ottawa) have written a computer program called “EFGShield” which parses and summarizes Gaussian output files containing shielding and EFG data. The program provides results which are directly comparable to data extracted through simulations of experimental spectra using programs such as WSOLIDS (e.g., quadrupolar coupling constants, Euler angles, etc.).

S. Adiga, D. Aebi, and D.L. Bryce, "EFGShield: A Program for Parsing and
Summarizing the Results of Electric Field Gradient and Nuclear Magnetic Shielding Tensor Calculations," Can. J. Chem. 85 (2007) 496-505 (link).

Updated Version 2.3 includes:


1. Built-in quadrupole moments have been updated to reflect Pyykkö's most recent recommendations


2. The program can now handle files containing up to 900 atoms.

3. Several equivalent sets of Euler angles are outputted rather than just one representative set.

4. Minor bug fix for Euler angles in highsymmetry environments.

If you are interested, you can download the program here

http://www.catalysis.uottawa.ca/EFGShield-download.php


Please contact me if you have any questions or comments.

Dave Bryce

http://www.science.uottawa.ca/~dbryc159/


NSERC 2009 Grants Competition Results (April 9/09)

Our sincere congratulations to all the winners of the 2009 NSERC competitions in the Discovery Grants Program (DG), Research Tools and Instruments Grants (RTI), the Major Resources Support Program (MRS) and Scholarship programs.

David Bryce (University of Ottawa) received NSERC RTI funding for laboratory equipment (glovebox).

Becky Chapman (University of Ottawa) has been awarded a NSERC Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship. She joins Cory Widdifield as the second member of Dave Bryce's group to receive this prestigious scholarship.

Share your success with the Canadian NMR community (E-mail).


Recognition: David Bryce (March 24/09)

David Bryce David Bryce (University of Ottawa) has been promoted with tenure to the rank of Associate Professor. Join us in congratulating Dave with this well deserved promotion!

New NMR instrument at uOttawa (Jan 27/09)

Last week our colleagues from the University of Ottawa took delivery of a Bruker AVANCE III 400 NMR spectrometer for solids (photos), to complement the Bruker AVANCE III 200 NMR spectrometer installed there in September 2008. This major hardware acquisition has been made possible thanks to the CFI Leaders Opportunity Fund award to Prof. David Bryce (Chemistry). Congratulations, Dave !

In total there are now seven NMR instruments at the uOttawa campus (8, including the Bruker AVANCE II 900 at the National NMR Facility for Solids), to keep Glenn and Cheryl very busy for a long time to come.

web (NMR Facility): http://www.science.uottawa.ca/nmr/


The University of Ottawa is one of Canada's principal comprehensive, research-intensive, postsecondary institutions. Its campus community totals more than 35,000 full-time students, faculty and staff living, working and studying in both of Canada's official languages in a thoroughly cosmopolitan milieu. We are proud to call ourselves "Canada's university." The researchers at the Faculty of Science are involved in a number of multi-disciplinary centers and institutes. Over the years, the Faculty has invested in several outstanding facilities such as mass spectrometry, NMR, x-ray, geochemistry and isotopic analytical laboratories. A number of services have been established in collaboration with other universities, provincial and federal governments, including the National Solid-State NMR Facility for Solids.

Media inquiries: Sophie Nadeau, Media Relations Officer, (613) 562-5800 ext 3137