A nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer is used to determine the structures of molecules. Our spectrometer is a three-channel instrument equipped with a variable-temperature unit and 5 mm TXI/Z-gradient three-channel indirect detection probe 5 mm BBO/Z-gradient two-channel broadband probes. This instrument is also capable of CP-MAS solids experiments and has a 120 slot autosampler. Spectra are analyzed using TopSpin, Sparky and iNMR.

This bench top NMR system utilizes a 60 MHz magnet for routine analysis of organic molecules produced in the organic labs.

An X-ray diffractometer is used to determine the three-dimensional structures of molecules in the crystal state. The diffractometer is equipped with a Mo-K radiation source(l= 0.71073 Å) and cryogenic sample cooling. Reflections are indexed, integrated, and corrected for Lorentz, polarization, and absorption effects using CrysAlis Pro with SCALE3 ABSPACK scaling algorithm. Structures are solved by intrinsic phasing using Olex2. Hydrogen atom coordinates are assigned geometrically and constrained to ride on their parent atoms.

HPLC liquid chromatography is used to separate molecules in a solution mixture. Both systems have autosamplers and Diode Array UV/Visible detectors for detecting and quantifying the molecules in the mixture. Chromatograms are collected and analyzed using Agilent's ChemStation software.

Students in classroom or research laboratories undergoing chemical synthesis utilize these rotary evaporators to reduce the volume of solvent in their reaction mixture for isolating reaction products.

UV/Visible spectrophotometers are used to measure the absorption of visible and ultraviolet light by molecules dissolved in a solution. The department has 4 Cary-50 UV/Visible spectrophotometers, each having a Peltier temperature control unit. The department also has a high resolution UV/Visible spectrophotometer that contains Cary-14 optics, and which has been recently upgraded with OLIS electronics and software.

A Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer is used to analyze vibrational motions within a molecule, and can be used to identify molecules and groups of atoms within molecules. Sampling accessories for these instruments include attenuated total reflectance and diffuse reflectance. In addition to DTGS detectors, there is an MCT detector available for use with the Nexus benches.

A microwave-plasma atomic emission spectrometer is used by analytical chemists to detect and quantify metal ions in a sample.

An LC spectrometer is used to separate molecules in a solution mixture and accurately determine the molecular masses of each of the molecules in the mixture. This Agilent model 1200 Agilent HPLC system has an in-line diode array UV/Visible detector.

A gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer is used to separate a mixture of molecules in the gas state then determine the masses of the molecules and their fragments. The instrument can be used to identify unknown molecules. Our instrument includes an Agilent 7820A gas chromatograph with a 5977E mass spectrometer detector and autosampler.

These two CG's are used primarily to support our organic chemistry courses. Students analyze mixtures of organic compounds by this gas phase separation technique.

The fluorescence spectrometer is used for fluorescent measurements of photosensitive molecules with high sensitivity. It has wide application in chemical and biological sciences. The Cary Eclipse instrument is also equipped with a Peltier temperature-controlled cuvette holder.

Computational work in the Chemistry Department is carried out on the Blugold Supercomputer Cluster (BGSC),

which is maintained by Learning and Technology Services at UW-Eau Claire. The cluster has seven 8-core nodes, four 12-core nodes and thirteen 20-core nodes for a total of 364 cores. Several of the nodes are gpu equipped.  The cluster job scheduling software is Slurm.

Software resources on the cluster include Gaussian, Q-chem, Mathematica, the Intel ifort compiler, and the PGI Fortran compiler. There are four research active groups in the chemistry department making heavy use of the cluster.

(Click here to visit the BGSC website)

This Biotage Isolera One Flash Chromatography System is used by organic chemistry researchers for separations of reaction mixtures.

A stopped-flow instrument is used to quickly mix two solutions to initiate a reaction and to then monitor the kinetics of the reaction. Our two-syringe system has a minimal dead time of ~1.0 ms and can measure spectra from 275 to 700 nm using a PMT, diode array, fluorescence and circular dichroism detection for sample temperatures from 2.0-80.0 °C.

Optical cryostats are devices that enable the preparation of a sample at extremely low temperatures, 10K and 4K in these specific cases. They are often used for isolating unstable compounds in inert solids (e.g., solid neon, argon, or nitrogen.)

Lasers produce high-energy beams of light in which the wavelength, or color, can be controlled with very high precision. Lasers are used to investigate molecules used in photochemical reactions.

Using this instrumentation, experimenters spray a sample of gaseous molecules through through a tiny nozzle into a vacuum chamber. This procedure cools the molecules to very low temperature without causing the sample to freeze into a solid. The cooled molecules are investigated by interaction with a laser. The jet cooling simplifies the experimental results and allows one to interpret the data with higher precision. 

Biotage Initiator Microwave Reactor