Multiple winners at major conference Congratulations to Annabel Flook and Roisin O'Dea from the Lloyd-Jones group and Justinas Sakas from the Uhrín group, who won Poster Prizes for their contributions to the development and application of NMR spectroscopy at the SMASH 2023, an international Small Molecule NMR Conference held in Baveno, Italy, and at European Symposium on Organic Reactivity (ESOR 2023) held in Amsterdam. Annabel presented her work at SMASH on the monitoring of reactions that are complete within seconds or less. Her work illustrates how alternative processing approaches to typical data can produce quantitative kinetic information on how these fast reactions progress. I really enjoyed discussing my work with researchers covering such a broad range of expertise. They have stimulated some interesting conversations and suggested a number of avenues to explore next. It's amazing for my work to be recognised, and I'm looking forward to going again and hopefully being able to discuss the progress I've made over the next year. Annabel Flook Justinas presented his poster at SMASH on the SHARPER NMR technique which yields impressive sensitivity gains. His work focuses on incorporating this method to widely used solution- and solid-state NMR methods, such as the amusingly named INADEQUATE experiment. These improvements significantly reduce the sample concentration and/or experimental time requirements. It was a great opportunity to present my poster at SMASH 2023. I was able to have productive discussions with members of the international NMR community and learn about how my work could have practical applications in other people’s research. I am thrilled to have been awarded the poster prize! Justinas Sakas Roisin presented her work at ESOR on the use of 19F NMR to study of the mechanism of direct generation of amides. She has developed homogenous reaction conditions that have allowed her to use NMR to make the first major inroads into our understanding of this enigmatic and 'fiendishly simple' reaction. It was a pleasure to present my poster at ESOR 2023. This was a fantastic opportunity to engage in stimulating discussions with chemists from various backgrounds which lead to exciting ideas to explore next in my research. I am extremely proud and honoured to have received a poster prize! Roisin O'Dea We are delighted that our students’ outstanding research was recognised internationally. Supported by the state-of-the-art instrumentation, NMR is thriving in Edinburgh and pushing the boundaries of this exciting technique. Enjoy your prizes Annabel, Roisin, and Justinas! Professors Guy Lloyd-Jones and Dušan Uhrín This article was published on 2024-03-12
