Electron Magnetic Resonance Shrinks to Fit the Undergraduate Curriculum

Oxford Instruments have created the EMR Education Pack to facilitate the reintroduction of Electron Magnetic Resonance (EPR/ESR) to the undergraduate curriculum. The pack has been designed to be used with the AffirmoEX, the world's smallest, simplest-to-use, and most affordable bench top EMR instrument.

The EMR Education Pack comprises three elements: a PowerPoint presentation introducing the concepts and practical applications of EMR; a Laboratory Manual including a step-by-step guide to sample preparation and the operation of the AffirmoEX; and a set of four practical experiments, illustrating the value of EMR to organic, inorganic, and physical chemistry.

The package has been developed in partnership with Dr Reef Morse, an experienced and respected EMR spectroscopist who pioneers new approaches to the teaching of science. Dr Morse is the Director of the SMART Center in Michigan. With over 30 years experience in research, teaching, and developing EMR techniques, Dr Morse has 50 peer-reviewed publications in magnetic resonance, cell structure, physical biochemistry, computer programming, and surface chemistry.

John Paul Cerroti, Product Manager, Oxford Instruments, says:

"After almost 70 years, EMR is finally ready to join the mainstream of analytical chemistry techniques. Until now, because of the cost, size and complexity of the instrumentation, EMR has been something of an orphan technique, effectively used by experts in particular spheres, but almost invisible in the wider chemistry context. The combination of the AffirmoEX and our new EMR Education Pack is designed to break this constraint and put this valuable tool into the hands of practicing chemists."

Electron Magnetic Resonance is a long established and useful analytical technique, unique in its ability to provide information on unpaired electrons, characteristic of free radicals and transition metal oxidation states. EMR can provide valuable insights over a wide range of chemistries, including organic chemistry, polymerization, catalysis, oxidation, combustion, degradation, green chemistry, biochemistry and transition metal inorganic chemistry.