Equipment and Facilities
Facilities:
The Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry is located in the newly constructed Euler Science Complex. This 137,000 square-foot facility is LEED Gold Certified, and offers state-of-the-art teaching and research space. The Chemical Instrumentation Laboratory is outfitted with an array of specialized tools for teaching and research that provide TU undergraduates with unique hands-on experience with industry grade technology.
Featured Instrumentation:
Chromatography: GC, LC, HPLC, IC
Chromatography is a class of techniques that is used to separate complex mixtures. TU has several gas chromatographs (GC), liquid chromatographs (LC) with robotic fraction collectors, high-performance liquid chromatographs (HPLC), and an ion chromatograph (IC). The general theory behind these techniques is that each component of a sample mixture will travel through a column at a unique rate based on their unique attractions to the column surface. It's much like when I take my 3 year old daughter through the aisles at the grocery store. I travel quickly, only stopping at the few items I'm looking for. My daughter stops continually at each item on the shelf, looking for cartoon characters on the packaging. She has a much greater attraction for the aisle shelving than I and would, therefore, be the last to make it to the other end.
Chromatography is a class of techniques that is used to separate complex mixtures. TU has several gas chromatographs (GC), liquid chromatographs (LC) with robotic fraction collectors, high-performance liquid chromatographs (HPLC), and an ion chromatograph (IC). The general theory behind these techniques is that each component of a sample mixture will travel through a column at a unique rate based on their unique attractions to the column surface. It's much like when I take my 3 year old daughter through the aisles at the grocery store. I travel quickly, only stopping at the few items I'm looking for. My daughter stops continually at each item on the shelf, looking for cartoon characters on the packaging. She has a much greater attraction for the aisle shelving than I and would, therefore, be the last to make it to the other end.
Spectroscopy: UV-Vis, AA, FT-IR, FT-NMR
Spectroscopy is a class of techniques that is used to identify and/or quantify chemicals based on their interaction with certain wavelengths of light. TU has a variety of instruments that fall into this category including UV-visible absorbance spectrometers often used to quantify colored solutions, an atomic absorption spectrometer which uses UV light to quantify metal ion concentrations, and both an FT-IR which uses infrared and a FT-NMR which uses radio frequency to determine the structures of organic compounds. Generally speaking these techniques pass specific wavelengths of light through a sample and the amount of light that passes through the sample is detected. A decrease in transmission correlates to an increase in sample concentration. Additional information about the identity of the sample can be determined by observing the specific wavelengths that are absorbed. The wavelengths of absorption are typically unique for a given compound. The modern computer workstations allow online databases to be searched to find matches to known spectra in a matter of seconds.
Spectroscopy is a class of techniques that is used to identify and/or quantify chemicals based on their interaction with certain wavelengths of light. TU has a variety of instruments that fall into this category including UV-visible absorbance spectrometers often used to quantify colored solutions, an atomic absorption spectrometer which uses UV light to quantify metal ion concentrations, and both an FT-IR which uses infrared and a FT-NMR which uses radio frequency to determine the structures of organic compounds. Generally speaking these techniques pass specific wavelengths of light through a sample and the amount of light that passes through the sample is detected. A decrease in transmission correlates to an increase in sample concentration. Additional information about the identity of the sample can be determined by observing the specific wavelengths that are absorbed. The wavelengths of absorption are typically unique for a given compound. The modern computer workstations allow online databases to be searched to find matches to known spectra in a matter of seconds.
Mass Spectrometry: GCMS, LCMS
Mass spectrometry is a class of instrumentation that is designed to determine the mass and potentially the structure of a compound. TU has two GCMS instruments, one quadrupole and one ion trap design, that are capable of identifying small, volatile organic compounds at the part-per-million (ppm) range or lower. The newest addition is an LCQ-Deca electrospray ionization/ion trap mass spectrometer capable of analyzing large bio-polymers like proteins, carbohydrates, and DNA. The ion trap mass analyzer actually allows ions to be repeatedly isolated and fragmented inside the instrument to enable the polymers to be sequenced.
Computation:
Two server workstations are being setup to host an interactive environment as a teaching experience in the classroom and in lab. Goals include utilizing a WebMO/PSI4 interface and JSmol.
Specifications:
Athena
Intel Xeon E5-1607v3 3.10GHz 10MB 1866 4C
16GB DDR4-2133 RAM
Baldr
Intel Xeon E5-1680v3 3.20GHz 20MB 2133 8C
64GB DDR4-2133 RAM
Mass spectrometry is a class of instrumentation that is designed to determine the mass and potentially the structure of a compound. TU has two GCMS instruments, one quadrupole and one ion trap design, that are capable of identifying small, volatile organic compounds at the part-per-million (ppm) range or lower. The newest addition is an LCQ-Deca electrospray ionization/ion trap mass spectrometer capable of analyzing large bio-polymers like proteins, carbohydrates, and DNA. The ion trap mass analyzer actually allows ions to be repeatedly isolated and fragmented inside the instrument to enable the polymers to be sequenced.
Computation:
Two server workstations are being setup to host an interactive environment as a teaching experience in the classroom and in lab. Goals include utilizing a WebMO/PSI4 interface and JSmol. Specifications:
Athena
Intel Xeon E5-1607v3 3.10GHz 10MB 1866 4C
16GB DDR4-2133 RAM
Baldr
Intel Xeon E5-1680v3 3.20GHz 20MB 2133 8C
64GB DDR4-2133 RAM
