NMRs can now be Compact and Cost-Effective

Now that patented new software has been developed to reduce magnetic noise, it is hoped that permanent magnets can be used for NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) applications. Currently only superconducting electro-magnets are used, as in the picture above. These work by super-cooling a coil of copper wire to -270°C. At this temperature the resistance of the copper wire decreases to a negligible level. Once the coil is charged, the current can continue to flow (almost) indefinitely. As the current flows, an incredibly powerful magnetic field is generated around the coil. This aligns the nuclei of the hydrogen atoms in an organic molecule, and when electromagnetic radiation of the correct frequency is applied, resonant absorption will occur. This is used to create a spectrum, from which the molecule can be identified. NMR spectroscopy is used extensively by organic chemists to determine the structure of synthesised organic molecules. The major drawback of this technology is that the spectrometers are very large and bulky, often occupying an entire room by themselves. They are also very expensive to run, since the super-cooling liquid helium continually evaporates and must be replenished. With the use of permanent magnets, desktop sized NMR machines could feasibly be built and used for routine applications where low resolution is required. However, the more powerful electro-magnetic NMR's will still have to be used to identify molecules from scratch, or where high resolution is required.

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