Solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance

Students will learn theoretical basics of magnetic resonace spectroscopy and will acquire practical experience that will allow them to independently measure, process and evaluate nuclear magnetic resonance spectra of solids. The obtained knowledge will enable them to start working on advanced and more focused topics (such as NMR spectroscopy of pharmaceuticals, polymers, biological compounds, inorganic materials, etc.).

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• Nuclear magnetic resonance (physical properties of nuclei, nuclei in magneic field, classical description, quantum-mechanical description, pulses of radiofrequency field, free-induction decay, Hahn echo)
• Interaction of nuclei with their neighbourhood (chemical shift, dipolar interaction, quadrupolar interaction, hyperfine coupling, Knight shift; organic and bio-organic compounds, diamagnetic materials, paramagnetic materials, metals)
• Powder patterns, local symmetry, characteristics of spectral lines
• High-resolution solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (magic-angle spinning, strength of interactions, homogeneous and inhomogeneous line-broadening, dipolar decoupling, double-orientation rotation in spectroscopy of quadrupolar nuclei)
• Relaxation (spin-lattice relaxation, spin-spin relaxation, T1 and T2 measurements)
• Advanced techniques (double resonance and cross-polarization, two-dimensional spectroscopy, high-resolution methods for quadrupolar nuclei)
• Average Hamiltonian theory (homonuclear and heteronuclear interactions and magic-angle spinning, measurements of internuclear couplings, indirect observation of multiple-quantum transitions)
• Applications of solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy
• Practical work at spectrometer (setting the magic-angle, adjusting the homogeneity of external field, calibrating the strength of radiofrequency fields, cross-polarization experiment, T1 and T2 mesurement, processing of spectra with VnmrJ and Dmfit)
• Simulations of nuclear magnetic resonance experiments within Simpson

Students will learn the basics of solid-state nuclear magentic resonance. They will understand which interactions within a solid determine the shape of the spectrum and what information such a spectrum offers about the local environment around nuclei and thus about the local structure and dynamics within a solid. Students will get familiar with the modern high-resolution techniques of solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. They will test the basic techniques on the spectrometer. They will also learn how to process the recorded spectra and how to simulate the performance of simple pulse sequences.

• M. H. Levitt, Spin dynamics, Wiley, Chichester 2002. Catalogue E-version
• C. P. Slichter, Principles of magnetic resonance, Springer, Berlin 1996. Catalogue E-version
• Reif, B., Ashbrook, S.E., Emsley, L. et al. Solid-state NMR spectroscopy. Nature Reviews Methods Primers 1, 2 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43586-020-00002-1

Seminar work , participation in practical work, oral exam (50/20/30)

Full professor of materials at the University of Nova Gorica.

1. GORIČAN, Tjaša, GOLIČ GRDADOLNIK, Simona. Insights into the allosteric regulation of human Hsp90 revealed by NMR spectroscopy. Biomolecules. 2025, vol. 15, iss. 1, [article no.] 37, str. 1-20 [COBISS.SI-ID 221030403]
2. PAOLETTI, Francesca, COVACEUSZACH, Sonia, CASSETTA, Alberto, CALABRESE, Antonio N., NOVAK, Urban, KONAREV, Peter, GRDADOLNIK, Jože, LAMBA, Doriano, GOLIČ GRDADOLNIK, Simona. Distinct conformational changes occur within the intrinsically unstructured pro-domain of pro-Nerve Growth Factor in the presence of ATP and Mg2+Mg2+. Protein science. 2022, vol. 32, iss. 2, [article no.] e4563, str. 1-14. [COBISS.SI-ID 139671043]
3. PAOLETTI, Francesca, MERZEL, Franci, CASSETTA, Alberto, OGRIS, Iza, COVACEUSZACH, Sonia, GRDADOLNIK, Jože, LAMBA, Doriano, GOLIČ GRDADOLNIK, Simona. Endogenous modulators of neurotrophin signaling : landscape of the transient ATP- NGF interactions. Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal. 2021, vol. 19, str. 2938-2949. [COBISS.SI-ID 62353155]
4. SIMČIČ, Mihael, PUREBER, Kaja, KRISTAN, Katja, URLEB, Uroš, KOCJAN, Darko, GOLIČ GRDADOLNIK, Simona. A novel 2-oxoindolinylidene inhibitor of bacterial MurD ligase : enzyme kinetics, protein-inhibitor binding by NMR and a molecular dynamics study. European journal of medicinal chemistry. 2014, vol. 83, str. 92-101, [COBISS.SI-ID 1563996]
5. ARSOVSKA, Emilija, MALI, Gregor, GOLIČ GRDADOLNIK, Simona, ZEGA, Anamarija, NMR in the design of antibacterials. Current medicinal chemistry. 2014, vol. 21, no. 38, str. 4328-4346. [COBISS.SI-ID 3775089]