Bruker’s NMR automation software is called IconNMR. IconNMR has a graphical user interface (GUI) that runs on the spectrometer control computers in the labs, and a web-based interface called IconWeb that you can access from anywhere. In this training you will learn to use IconWeb because logging into the GUI can cause IconNMR to crash in a way that is unique to the GUI. To avoid these crashes, please don’t use the GUI unless you need specific features that are not available in IconWeb. The fact the you used the GUI at another facility or that you find it more user friendly does not make it crash less often. If you want to use the computer in the room, please use Firefox to connect to IconWeb.
At the heart of the automation is the queue, which is essentially a list of all experiments waiting to run. The order of these experiments is determined by a set of priority rules that the facility staff can adjust to try to balance the differing needs of our users. Before we explain these rules, we need to define and few terms:
- Day queue refers to the period between 8 am and 8 pm, Monday to Friday.
- Night queue refers to all other times, so before 8 am or after 8 pm, Monday to Friday, and all day on weekends.
- Day experiment is the default status for experiments in IconNMR. Unless you check the night or priority option, you are setting up a day experiment. It’s important to note that, in our facility, “day experiment” does NOT mean “experiment submitted during the day” or “experiment to be run during the day.” It simply means an experiment with default priority. A day experiment submitted at 11 pm is still a day experiment. Default priority is only appropriate for shorter experiments and a limited number of samples.
- Night experiments are experiments added to the queue with the “Night” option enabled in IconWeb. In our facility, “night experiment” does NOT mean “experiment submitted at night,” it simply means “experiment with lower priority.”
- Priority experiments are experiments submitted with “Priority” option enabled in IconWeb, but you will not see this option unless we enable it for your account based on a legitimate research need. Priority experiments are moved to the front of the queue but they do NOT run immediately. Icon will finish all experiments for the current sample before moving on to the priority one. If you submit a light-sensitive sample with priority on a Sunday while the queue is running a sample with an 8-hour carbon scheduled, your sample will sit in the changer until that finishes. If there are other priority experiments already in the queue, the newly submitted priority experiment is scheduled to run after those. Priority also allows you to run experiments at specific times on specific dates, which can be useful for monitoring reactions over days or weeks.
- All of the above applies to experiments, not samples! It is possible to have day, night and priority experiments submitted for the same sample. All of those experiments would be scheduled separately based on their priority levels and therefore may run at different times. This is not very efficient but sometimes necessary.
With that in mind, here is how the order of experiments is determined:
- During day queue hours:
- Priority experiments are placed at the front of the queue, but after any other priority experiments. When you submit a priority experiment, you delay all other non-priority experiments.
- Day experiments are placed after other day experiments but ahead of all night experiments. Day experiments have no effect on the timing of other day experiments but delay all night experiments.
- Night experiments go the very end of the queue behind all other experiments. A night experiment does not delay any other experiments. When there are no day experiments in the queue, short night experiments (less than 30 minutes in combined duration for a given sample) will run in the day queue. Icon will never run long night experiments in the day queue.
- During night queue hours, Icon will run:
- Priority experiments in the order they were submitted.
- If there are no priority experiments, day experiments in the order they were submitted.
- If there are no day experiments, night experiments of any duration.
When setting automation rules, our goals are to ensure that:
- All users are able to run at least a few samples every day.
- Day experiments submitted on any given day are completed as soon as possible but by the next morning at the latest.
- Night experiments submitted during a given week are completed before 8 am on the following Monday, at the latest.
Continue to sample changer rules, go back to sample prep or return to the main NMR training page.