A control system for performing automated time-domain NMR measurements in Bruker Minispec spectrometers

Time-Domain Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (TD-NMR) is a powerful method used for general characterization of a variety of materials as well as to online or in-situ monitoring of process. Because of that industries increasingly benefit from its use in process analytical technology (PAT) for production control and quality assurance. However, there is an increasing number of applications that requires automated signal acquisition as a function of temperatures, a resource that is not always available in many of the commercial equipments. We describe an automation procedure using the Bruker Minispec mq20 spectrometer with the BVT3000 temperature control, building software and hardware to execute TD-NMR experiments as a function of the temperature as well as the temperature calibration in an automatic form. Despite being developed for this specific equipment, the general idea can be used in other TD-NMR equipments that could benefit from this type of automation. As a demonstration, the system was used to monitor the temperature dependence of molecular mobility in polymers. All developed codes are shared in an open repository on GitHub.

Automated summary

TD-NMR is a powerful method for material characterization and production control, but automated signal acquisition as a function of temperature is often required. An automation procedure using specific equipment and sharing of developed codes can improve the efficiency and accuracy of TD-NMR experiments.