Major Equipment in Chemistry

The chemistry department is primarily located on the third floor of the Billie Tisch Center for Intergrated Sciences. The space includes four teaching laboratories for analytical, introductory, physical, and synthetic chemistry; two instrument rooms; and three shared research suites used in faculty-student collaborative research. The biochemists in the department are on the second floor of the Billie Tisch Center for Integrated Sciences with research space in the Kal Das Biomolecular Research Suite shared with biology and neuroscience. The biomolecular space includes two additional teaching laboratories for biochemistry and the cellular & molecular biosciences. The department houses a wide variety of modern research-grade instruments that are routinely used by students in laboratory classes and in collaborative research. Students and faculty in the department also use the Skidmore Analytical Interdisciplinary Laboratory (SAIL), the Physics Machine Shop, and the Skidmore College Microscopy Imaging Center (SMIC) as well as the three autoclaves in the Billie Tisch Center for Integrated Sciences. 

INSTRUMENTATION

• Fiber optic spectrometer [Ocean Optics]
• Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometers
• Scanning spectrofluorimeter [Shimadzu]
• Ultraviolet-visible diode array spectrophotometers [Agilent]
• Scanning ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometer [Cary and Shimadzu]
• 400 MHz nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer [JEOL]
• Single wavelength visible spectrophotometers
• UV-Vis Diffuse Reflection Spectroscopy [Perkin Elmer]
• Raman spectrophotometer [DeltaNu]
• Gas Sorption Analyzer [Quantachrome]
• Gas chromatograph with FID and µECD dectectors [Agilent]
• High performance liquid chromatograph (HPLC) [Dionex]
• Capillary Electrophoresis System [Beckman Coulter]

Additional instrumentation, including AAS, GC-MS, LC-MS, XRD and XRF, is available in SAIL

Preparative

• Refrigerated preparative centrifuges
• Microwave reactor for organic synthesis [Milestone]
• Microwave sample digester [Milestone]
• Deep freezers (–20 °C, –45 °C,  –80 °C)
• Refrigerators/freezers
• Ovens
• Controlled temperature baths and chillers
• Heidolph Rotary Evaporators

Biochemistry

• Bio-Rad GelDoc Go
• Bio-Rad ChemiDoc
• Desktop shaking incubator
• Shaking incubator [Innova]
• Desktop centrifuges (refrigerated/non-refrigerated)
• DNA sequencing systems [FisherBiotech]
• Gel electrophoresis apparatuses (vertical and horizontal)
• Orbital shaker
• Heat blocks
• Sonicator [FS Model 505]
• Thermocyclers [BioRad]
• Nanodrop spectrometer/computer
• Beckman Coulter Optime XPN-90 Ultracentrifuge
• Beckman Coulter Avanti J-E Centrifuge
• AKTA Prime Plus FPLC

Other

• Solution calorimeter [Parr]
• Bomb calorimeter [Parr]
• Microbalance [Cahn]

Software

All Skidmore-owned computers can have these installed:

• Gaussian09 and GaussView (for Windows)
• Mathematica (Windows, Mac, Linux)
• Matlab
• ChemDraw (Windows and Mac)
• SciFinder