Rapid advances in the capabilities of chemical instrumentation have made these instruments indispensable tools in industry, government, and academia. Chemistry students at Southern Oregon University are exposed to a wide range of state-of-the-art chemical instrumentation in both their course work and through research projects.
The Chemistry Department maintains two computer labs in close proximity to faculty offices. These labs contain student-dedicated networked computers and course- specific software. In addition, all Science classrooms are equipped with networked computers and high quality projection systems.
The Chemistry Department houses the Organic Spectroscopy Laboratory. Re-equipped in 2001 through the assistance of National Science Foundation Major Research Instrumentation and Agilent Technologies University Relations Grants, the lab is extensively utilized by students in the Organic Spectroscopy course (Ch 340), Organic chemistry labs, and for student and faculty research.
Organic Spectroscopy Laboratory
- Bruker Avance 400 MHz FT-NMR
- GC-MS (Agilent 6890N with an Agilent 5973 mass-selective detector)
- FT-IR (Perkin-Elmer Spectrum One with an Attenuated Total Reflectance (ATR) accessory
In addition to hands-on experience with structural characterization techniques in the Organic Spectroscopy Laboratory, chemistry majors at SOU are required to learn how to operate analytical instrumentation routinely used in university, industrial, and government laboratories. The SOU Instrumental Analysis Lab houses chromatographic, spectroscopic, and electrochemical instrumentation for the determination of substances, often at the trace level (parts per million and lower). Recent additons of multiple mass spectrometry systems has enhanced our department's capacity to identify substances in complex matrices at concentrations below the part per million level.
Atomic and Molecular Spectroscopy Instrumentation
- Perkin-Elmer Optima 2100 Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometer (ICP-OES)
- Varian Cary 1E UV-Visible Spectrophotometer
- Thermo Scientific Evolution 201 UV-Visible Spectrophotometer
Separations Instrumentation
- Hewlett-Packard 5890 Gas Chromatograph (GC) with a flame-ionization detector
- GC-MS (an additional Agilent 6890N with Agilent 5973 mass-selective detector)
- Agilent 6890N Gas Chromatograph with 7683 autosampler and both thermal conductivity (TCD) and flame ionization (FID) detection.
- HP/Agilent 1100 HPLC with autosampler, column temperature control, and diode array detector
- Varian Saturn 2200 Ion-Trap GC-MS with CTC Analytics CombiPAL autosampler
- Dionex Ultimate 3000 Series liquid chromatograph interfaced to a Bruker microTOF-QII Series time-of-flight mass spectrometer
- Thermo Finnigan LCQ Deca XP LC-MS system
Electrochemical Instrumentation
- CH Instruments Model 832 Bipotentiostat
- Multiple pH/mV meters equipped with Ion-Selective Electrodes (Na, K, H, F, NO3-, NH4+, Ca)
The SOU Science Building, which was newly renovated in 2015, is home to the SOU Biotechnology Center, of which the Chemistry Department is a member. The Biotechnology Center houses a genetic analyzer, in addition to an extensive array of modern biochemical and molecular biology instrumentation. The Biotechnology Center was founded in 2002.
The Chemistry Department maintains a laser facility for use by students in the physical chemistry sequence and for student research projects. Currently, the main laser sources are Ar-ion lasers at 488 and 514 nm. A CCD camera coupled to a research-grade spectrometer allows students to make very precise spectroscopic measurements. The lab is well-equipped to perform measurements using Raman and laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopies.
