Chemistry and Biochemistry
Instrumentation
The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry strives to provide its faculty and students with the most current instrumentation for teaching and research.

A helium purification system in Professor Matt Elrod’s lab.
Photo credit: Photo courtesy of Zach Christy
Much of our equipment is purchased with funds from internal and external sources, such as private foundations, government science agencies, corporations, and alumni. Instruments purchased in part with funds from the National Science Foundation grant programs are marked below with an *.
Spectrophotometry
Varian Cary 5E UV-Vis-NIR instrument with reflectance and thin-film accessories*, an Agilent diode array spectrophotometer, several microplate absorbance readers, a JY Horiba spectrofluorometer, several FT-infrared instruments equipped with ATR cells, a Nicolet FT-IR/Raman spectrophotometer*.
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometry
Varian 400-MHz NMR spectrometer offering walkup collection of spectra from proton, carbon, and other nuclei, a 600-MHz instrument (Magnex magnet and Techmag console) with high-resolution solutions capability and solids magic angle spinning capability.
Separations / Mass Spectrometry
Agilent gas chromatograph with FID and ECD, a Shimadzu GC-MS (single quad), a Shimadzu liquid chromatograph – ESI/APCI – triple quad mass spectrometer, several electrophoresis systems.
Thermal Analysis
Mettler-Toledo simultaneous TGA-DSC instrument, differential scanning calorimeter (Mettler-Toledo DSC 3+).
X-ray Diffraction
Rigaku powder X-ray diffractometer* with capabilities for variable-temperature, small-angle scattering, and thin film analysis. The instrument is shared with the Department of Physics.
Electrochemistry
Bioanalytical Systems voltammograph, a Cypress Systems electroanalysis system, a variety of ion selective electrodes and other probes.
Scientific Equipment and Instruments
View photo gallery
Used to study the electronic properties of molecules and to quantify amounts of chemicals by light absorption Photo credit: Tanya Rosen-Jones ’97

Used to study the electronic properties of molecules and to quantify amounts of chemicals by fluorescence Photo credit: Tanya Rosen-Jones ’97

Used to quantify amounts of chemicals in a large number of samples quickly Photo credit: Tanya Rosen-Jones ’97

Used to study the electronic properties of molecules and to quantify amounts of chemicals by light absorption Photo credit: Tanya Rosen-Jones ’97

Used to study the electronic properties of molecules and to quantify amounts of chemicals by light absorption Photo credit: Tanya Rosen-Jones ’97

Used to quantify amounts of chemicals by converting molecules into their constituent atoms and measuring their light absorption Photo credit: Tanya Rosen-Jones ’97

Used to quantify amounts of chemicals by converting molecules into their constituent atoms and measuring their light absorption Photo credit: Tanya Rosen-Jones ’97

Used to quantify amounts of chemicals by converting molecules into their constituent atoms and measuring their light absorption Photo credit: Tanya Rosen-Jones ’97

Used to separate complex mixtures into their constituent liquid chemicals and sort them by mass Photo credit: Tanya Rosen-Jones ’97

Used to separate complex mixtures into their constituent gaseous chemicals and sort them by mass Photo credit: Tanya Rosen-Jones ’97

Used to identify molecules by their bond vibrational properties Photo credit: Tanya Rosen-Jones ’97

Used to identify molecules by their bond vibrational properties Photo credit: Tanya Rosen-Jones ’97

Used to separate complex mixtures into their constituent gaseous chemicals Photo credit: Tanya Rosen-Jones ’97

Used to identify the molecular structures of liquid chemicals Photo credit: Tanya Rosen-Jones ’97

Used to identify the molecular structures of liquid and solid chemicals Photo credit: Tanya Rosen-Jones ’97

Used to determine the phase change temperatures of chemicals Photo credit: Tanya Rosen-Jones ’97

Used to determine the phase change temperatures of chemicals Photo credit: Tanya Rosen-Jones ’97

Used to determine the amount of water in a chemical sample Photo credit: Tanya Rosen-Jones ’97

Used to determine the amount of water in a chemical sample Photo credit: Tanya Rosen-Jones ’97

Used to determine shape and sizes of crystals Photo credit: Tanya Rosen-Jones ’97

Used to determine shape and sizes of crystals Photo credit: Tanya Rosen-Jones ’97

Used to calculate virtually any chemical property of interest Photo credit: Tanya Rosen-Jones ’97

Used to calculate virtually any chemical property of interest Photo credit: Tanya Rosen-Jones ’97

Used to calculate virtually any chemical property of interest Photo credit: Tanya Rosen-Jones ’97

Used to calculate virtually any chemical property of interest Photo credit: Tanya Rosen-Jones ’97
























