Chemistry Program Facilities
The Chemistry Program houses multiple pieces of equipment, ready to be used for high quality research. For some of this equipment, we have dedicated personnel (may or may not be the faculty member you're doing research with) who will provide you with an appropriate training. Faculty member who guides you in research will let you know of who to contact, depending on the project you’re working on. Laboratory facilities are mostly located on the third floor of the STEM building.
Available Equipment
JEOL 500 MHz NMR Spectrometer (fitted with HFX Royal probe and autosampler)
Analysis of organic molecules (liquid phase), helps establish structure and conformation of molecules, analyzes purity of samples.
Agilent LC-MS System Consisting of 1200 HPLC and 6120A Single-Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer
Analytical equipment, separates mixtures of polar compounds, identifies them by their mass spectrum. Projects: personalized medicine-related research, chemistry of natural products, environmental analysis, proteomics, metabolomics, pharmaceuticals.
Agilent GC-MS System consisting of 7890A GC and 5975C Mass-Selective detector (also equipped with µECD detector)
Analyzes complicated mixtures of small molecules, identifies them by their mass spectrum, relative amounts, uses their differences in volatility. Projects: purity of synthesis products, reaction monitoring, routine identification and quantification of volatile/semi-volatile organic compounds.
Thermo iCAP Inductively Coupled Plasma – Optical Emission Spectrometer (ICP-OES)
Elemental analysis technique that uses the emission spectra of a sample to identify, and quantify the elements present. Samples are introduced into the plasma in a process that desolvates, ionizes, and excites them.
XRD Powder Diffractometer
Provides information on structure of powder and microcrystalline samples.
Beckman Preparative Ultracentrifuge
The ultracentrifuge is a centrifuge optimized for spinning a rotor at very high speeds, capable of generating acceleration as high as 1 000 000 g. It finds important uses in molecular biology, biochemistry, and polymer science. Preparative rotors are used in biology for pelleting of fine particulate fractions, such as cellular organelles (mitochondria, microsomes, ribosomes) and viruses. They can also be used for gradient separations, in which the tubes are filled from top to bottom with an increasing concentration of a dense substance in solution.
Perkin-Elmer Frontier and Thermo Nicolet iS5 IR Spectrometers
Infrared spectroscopy is a simple and reliable technique widely used in both organic
and inorganic chemistry, in research and industry. It is used in quality control,
dynamic measurement, and monitoring applications. It is also used in forensic analysis
in both criminal and civil cases, for example, in identifying polymer degradation.
IR-spectroscopy can be used in analysis and identification of pigments in paintings,
or various compounds in different food products.
Agilent Cary Eclipse Fluorescence Spectrophotometer
This technique excites the electrons in molecules of certain compounds and causes them to emit light. Fluorescence spectroscopy is used in, among others, biochemical, medical, and chemical research fields for analyzing organic compounds.
Thermo DXR2 Raman Spectrometer
Allows to characterize primarily non-polar molecules and materials, study polymorphs, secondary structure of proteins, etc.
Other Equipment
- UV-Vis spectrophotometers (Thermo, Perkin Elmer)
- Microwave Reactor
- Photochemical Reactor
- Cyclic Voltammetry Apparatus
- Bomb Calorimeter
- Labconco Freeze Dryer
- Mercury Analyzer
- Electrophoresis equipment
- Melting Point Apparatus
- Ultrapure Water System