Undergraduate Laboratory Experience

Laboratory spaces for General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Biochemistry, Analytical Chemistry, Physical Chemistry, Physical-Inorganic Chemistry, and Instrumental Analysis are accommodated in Advanced Technology and Science Hall (ATSH).

General Chemistry Laboratory

Chemistry student working in a lab

The goal of the SRU Chemistry department is to provide a safe and educational laboratory experience for the students. The experiments used for the General Chemistry Laboratory courses have been carefully selected to be as safe as is reasonable while still allowing the students to experience the joy of performing chemical reactions. There is a heavy emphasis on laboratory safety during both General Chemistry I and II Laboratory courses. Students receive comprehensive instruction at the beginning of each course regarding glassware, chemical, and waste handling. Students are also instructed in proper laboratory attire and behavior. Laboratory safety is a continuing theme during the semester with safety instructions reviewed prior to each experiment with specific laboratory hazards for each experiment emphasized.

Organic Chemistry Laboratory

Chemistry Student working in a lab

The Chemistry Department provides an ACS certified organic chemistry lab course which is closely aligned with the associated Organic Chemistry Lecture section. The goal of this course is to develop the understanding of and ability to use laboratory experimentation as a means of investigating the chemical reactions and physical properties of organic compounds. This laboratory course will help students' understanding of chemical reactions and their characterization. The organic chemistry laboratory course will also focus on modern spectroscopic techniques for the characterization of organic compounds. This is a crucial skill for evaluating the outcome of a reaction or the identity of an unknown substance.

Biochemistry Laboratory

Chemistry student working in a lab

Biochemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. By controlling information flow through biochemical signaling and the flow of chemical energy through metabolism, biochemical processes give rise to the complexity of life. The laboratory utilizes biochemical techniques used in the investigation, isolation and purification of biomolecules. Students will work with state of the art equipment in cell fractionation, visible and fluorescence microscopy and ultracentrifugation. Students in the biochemistry track follow a curriculum that is designed to simulate a research environment. The student is given a specific problem that has a measurable quantitative outcome. To accomplish the goal the student will survey the scientific literature in regards to the problem, design a protocol to solve the problem based on the literature survey, execute the protocol, obtain and analyze data, write a scientific report on the study and present a fifteen-minute oral presentation of their study to the class.

Analytical Chemistry Laboratory

Chemistry students working in a lab

Analytical chemistry is the discipline of chemistry in which chemical and instrumental methods are employed to measure the concentrations of particular substances in samples. In short, great care must be exercised in all phases of analysis including the preparation of glassware, handling of the reagents, tuning of the instruments, and reading the measurements.

The analytical chemistry laboratory entails experiments that illustrate the statistical treatment of data, the influence of ionic equilibria on analyte concentration, and principles of analysis. Titrimetric analyses account for the bulk of the laboratory activities in which laboratory technique is trained and practiced. Analysis using instrumentation is introduced by featuring absorbance spectrophotometry or gas chromatography.

Physical Chemistry Laboratory

Chemistry students working in a lab

Physical chemistry is an area of chemistry that focuses on behavior of matter on an atomic or molecular level. The physical chemistry laboratory course allows students to obtain practical skills and hands-on experience of experimental physical chemistry. Thermodynamic principles will be employed in the laboratory for determining and relating physical properties such as viscosity, heat of ionic reactions, boiling and freezing points, and composition of chemical substances. Considerable efforts will be made to link the contents of the labs with the topics that are covered in physical chemistry lecture (Chem 301).

Physical-Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory

Chemistry students working in a lab

Physical/Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory focuses on synthesizing inorganic compounds and using physical techniques to analyze them. Inorganic compounds are metal-based compounds with a wide-range of properties, including a variety of colors, unique magnetic profiles, and catalytic capabilities. Inorganic compounds can be air and/or moisture sensitive. This requires the use of specialized techniques, such as Schlenk line techniques. Because of the wide variety of physical properties of inorganic compounds, many different analytical techniques may be employed, such as ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy, infrared (IR) spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, magnetic susceptibility measurements, and x-ray diffraction spectroscopy.

In the physical-inorganic laboratory, students will learn about group theory and its applications to predicting spectroscopic properties. Students will synthesize a variety of metal-containing compounds that can be used as spectroscopic mimics of more complex biomolecules. Students will learn how to use a variety of spectroscopic techniques to analyze these compounds' unique properties.

Instrumental Analysis

Instrumental Analysis students working in a lab

Modern analysis of chemical species is carried out mainly through the use of instrumentation. Spectrometers measure radiant power or absorbance, chromatographs separate complex mixtures of chemical species, and electrochemical apparatuses measure current, potential, or charge as a function of chemical concentration. These instruments are composed of specialized hardware, optics, and electronics, and the computers that control their instruments. The objective of instrumental analysis laboratory is to gain hands-on experience of analytical instrumentation.

Students reinforce their understanding of optics by tracing the beam path from source to detector in an open spectrometer. Samples are prepared by procedures accepted in chemically-related job settings, data are collected and then the data are compiled and organized in carefully written reports. Instrumental design and operation are illustrated using a UV-visible spectrophotometer, atomic absorption spectrophotometer, fluorescence spectrometer, gas chromatograph, high performance liquid chromatograph, and an electrochemical analyzer.

Chemistry

Undergraduate Laboratory Experience

Chemistry

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