Carleton College: Chemistry: An Introduction to the Chemistry Department

An Introduction to the Chemistry Department

Highlights

The Chemistry Department at Carleton graduates an average of 23 majors each year. It is recognized as one of the top chemistry programs in the nation in terms of preparation of students for graduate school, faculty commitment to undergraduate teaching and curricular innovation. Students and faculty work closely together in research and course activities. Carleton continues to be highly ranked among liberal arts colleges as a leading baccalaureate origin of Ph.D.s in chemistry. Small advanced classes allow students to work directly with a wide range of modern, research-quality equipment. Support has been provided in part by generous grants from companies and foundations such as Du Pont, 3M, Dow, the National Science Foundation, the American Chemical Society, the Research Corporation, the Hughes Foundation, the Kresge Foundation, and the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation. Students have access to a wide variety of chemistry-related software on the campus computer network to support their studies.

The chemistry curriculum at Carleton gives students a strong foundation for graduate work in chemistry, biochemistry, material science, or environmental science. It also prepares student well for positions in industry, for high school teaching and for studies in the medical sciences. Each year over one-third of all chemistry majors go on to Ph.D. programs in chemistry or related fields. Another third of our majors enter medical school. One-third enter the job market-with a combination of chemistry and the liberal arts, they have been able to move toward careers in everything from architecture and engineering to law and the ministry.

Educational Philosophy

The Chemistry Department strives to make our courses intellectually exciting, interactive, and relevant to the larger world of scientific inquiry. One goal of our courses is to demonstrate the relevance of the core topics in chemistry to scientific questions in many disciplines including biochemistry, material science, chemical physics, and environmental science. Not only do we emphasize course content, but we also teach the process of doing science. The Chemistry Department recognizes that modern science is a collaborative process. Therefore, we provide students with ample opportunities to work in groups. A wide variety of activities, from laboratory work to the senior "comps" exercise, involve groups of students working in teams. In addition, laboratory work is not "cook book." In other words, laboratory work is designed to improve chemical knowledge through research-like experiences that require experimental design, use of modern chemical instrumentation, and interpretation of complex data.

Interaction between faculty and students that takes place outside of the classroom is just as important to us. The most educationally important student-faculty collaborations occur in the research laboratory. Every summer 15 to 20 students pursue research on campus as colleagues of Chemistry Department faculty members. Other opportunities for informal interaction with faculty abound. "The Ring," a club composed of junior and senior majors, organizes group outings and participates in curricular decisions. Weekly seminars bring faculty, students and visiting chemists together to discuss current research in the field. Students and faculty meet together each week for lunch at "The Periodic Table."

Facilities and Instrumentation

The Chemistry Department is located in Seeley G. Mudd Hall of Science which has been its home since 1975. A 1997 renovation of the building added additional space for instrumentation and laboratories dedicated to student-faculty research. An extensive collection of monographs and journals that support teaching and research in chemistry is located in the Laurence McKinley Gould Library. In addition, the library maintains multiple on-line resources for research in the chemical sciences including SciFinder Scholar and electronic journal access. The following equipment and instrumentation is available for coursework and research. Instruments which are used primarily or exclusively within a specific research group are indicated.

NMR Spectrometer

Varian Unity-Plus 400 MHz FT Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometer

Mass Spectrometers

Shimadzu QP-5000 GC/MS with EI/CI and with direct insertion probe

ThermoQuest LCQDuo ESI/APCI Quadrupole Ion-Trap Mass Spectrometer with dedicated microcolumn HPLC

Reflectron Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer with Laser Ionization (WH Research)

Custom designed vacuum chamber system for molecular fragmentation studies (TF Research), with:
- Custom coincidence ion time-of-flight mass spectrometer
- Custom electron detector
- Variable energy (0-5keV) nanosecond pulsed electron gun
- Custom built gas manifold
- Tektronix 400 MHz fast Oscilloscope
- Fast nanosecond electronics for time-of-flight data acquisition
- FLY TDC Computer board and software

Aerosol Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer (TSI, Inc. Model 3800) (DG Research), with:
- Direct atmospheric pressure sampling for ambient particles
- Real-time particle aerodynamic sizing
- Pulsed laser desorption/ionization of individual airborne particulate matter (Nd:YAG, ~8 ns)
- Two reflectron time-of-flight mass spectrometers, for positive and negative ions from each particle

High Performance Liquid Chromatography

Shimadzu SCL-10A High Pressure Liquid Chromatograph with Autosampler and Diode Array and Fluorescence detectors.

ISCO Model 2350 Preparatory High Pressure Liquid Chromatograph (DA Research)

Waters Breeze HPLC system, with refractive index detector, equipped with columns for doing size exclusion chromatography (GH Research)

Gas Chromatography

Four Shimadzu 8A Gas Chromatographs with Thermal-Conductivity Detectors

Shimadzu GC-14A Capillary Gas Chromatograph with Flame Ionization Detector

Five Capillary Gas Chromatographs (three with dual FID Detectors, two with both FID and ECD)

UV-Visible Spectrometers

Four Hewlett-Packard Model 8452A Diode Array Spectrometers

Three Hewlett-Packard Model 8453 Diode Array Spectrometers

Seven Ocean Optics fiber-optic based modular UV-Vis instruments with CCD Detectors

Thermo-Electron Evolution 300 double-beam UV-VIS spectrometer with Photodiode Detector

Infrared Spectrometers and Ancillary Equipment

Nicolet Infinity Series FTIR Spectrometer

Mattson Model 4020 Galaxy Series FTIR Spectrometer

Nicolet 205 FTIR Spectrometer

Carver Model 3393 Laboratory Press

Attenuated Total Reflectance equipment

Other Spectrometers

Aminco Bowman Series 2 Luminescence Spectrometer

Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometer (shared with Geology Department)

Ocean Optics Fluorescence CCD Detector and LED Light Source (SD Research)

Lasers and Associated Equipment

Laser Teaching Facility:
- Continuum Minilite II (1064, 532, 355, 266 nm) YAG Laser
- Dakota Technologies Northern Lights Dye Laser
- Tektronix TDS 3032 Digital Oscilloscope
- Oriel Helium Neon Gas Laser
- Melles Griot Helium Neon Gas Laser
- Spex 270M Monochrometer
- Inrad Autotracker III Frequency Doubler
- Three Textronix TDS 1002 digital oscilloscopes
- Laser experiment hardware (mounting hardware, lenses, beam splitters, holders, posts, clamps, cuvette holders)

Oriel Scanning Monochromator

Lumonics Hyperdye 300 Laser (WH Research)

Magnetic Susceptibility

Johnson Matthey Mark II Magnetic Susceptibility Balance

Biochemical Instrumentation

FRENCH Pressure Cell Press (JC Research)

Eppendorf 5810R Refrigerated Benchtop Centrifuge (JC Research)

New Brunswick Scientific C24 Benchtop Incubator/Shaker (JC Research)

Millipore Milli-Q Synthesis Water Purification System (JC Research)

Eppendorf Mastercycler Personal Themocycler (JC Research)

Canon/Fotodyne Photodocumentation system (JC Research)

Kodak ImageStation 2000R for fluorescent and chemiluminescent imaging (shared with Biology Department)

GE Storm 820 Phosphorimager (shared with Biology Department)

Beckman Coulter LS 6500 Scintillation Counter (shared with Biology Department)

Inert Atmosphere Work

Four Ace-Burlitch (Adapted) Inert Atmosphere Schlenk Lines: Dual Vacuum/Argon Gas Manifolds with Sargent Welch Model 1400 DuoSeal Vacuum Pumps

Two Schlenk Lines: Dual Vacuum/Argon Gas Manifold with a Sargent Welch Model 1405 DuoSeal Vacuum Pump (MC Research)

Ace Dual Vacuum/Gas Manifold with a Welch Model 1405 Vacuum Pump (DA Research)

Two Inert Atmosphere Solvent Stills (DA Research)

Vacuum Atmospheres MO-20 Inert Atmosphere Glove Box with a Welch DuoSeal Model 1402 Vacuum Pump (SD Research)

M. Braun, two person glove box, equipped with a -35 °C freezer (GH Research)

Lyophilization and Rotoevaporation

Virtis BenchTop 3L Lyophillizer (MC Research)

Buchi B481 Rotary Evaporator with Temperature Bath

Buchi R-124 Rotary Evaporator

Two Wheaton Micro Evaporators

One Wheaton Rotary Evaporator (DA Research)

Electrochemical Equipment

BAS CV-50W voltammetric analyzer (SD Research)

BAS CV-1B cyclic voltammograph (SD Research)

PAR 371 potentiostat-galvanostat (SD Research)

PAR 379 digital coulometer (SD Research)

EI-400 microelectrode potentiostat (SD Research)

Air Sampling Equipment

Li-COR 6252 CO2 analyzer with battery charger and data logger

5 SKC, Inc. Airchek 52 Sampling Pumps (5 mL/min - 3 L/min) with battery charger, filter cassette holders, constant pressure adapters, and cyclones (for PM and gas-phase samples)

TSI 3080L Electrostatic Classifier (DMA) for particle size selection (DG Research)

Balances

Nine Mettler AE 260 Electronic Balances

Eight Metler AB204 Electronic Balances

Mettler AG 204 Electronic Balance

Mettler AE 163 Electronic Balance

Three Ohaus 300 Top Loading Balances

Four American Scientific Products TL 410G Top Loading Balances

Miscellaneous

Custom vacuum apparatus for gas viscosity experiments
Bransonic 42 Sonicator
Five Mel-Temp Melting Point Devices
Four Mel-Temp II Melting Point Devices
NesLab Model RTE Constant Temperature Bath
Two Polysciences Model 1136 Temperature Bath Controllers
Fisher Isotemp 145 Dry Temperature Bath
Walk in Cold Room
Multiple Model 640 pH Meters and Electrodes
Denver Instruments Model 215 pH Meter
Assorted Ion Selective Electrodes
Two Isco Retriever II autosamplers (DA Research)
Polarimeters (several)
Refractometer
Microscopes (several)
Bomb calorimeter
Solution calorimeter

Supported Software

Software for Computational Chemistry and Molecular Modeling
- Spartan
- Amber 8
- Tinker
- Visualizing Molecular Dynamics (VMD)
- Gaussian 03

ChemDraw

LabVIEW

Mestcre (Work up of NMR data)

EXCEED (Varian Software for work up of NMR data and communication with the Varian Unity Plus NMR Spectrometer)

Mathematica

Stella

Computers for Student or Laboratory Use

Thirteen IBM Laptop Computers for general computing use in teaching laboratories

Seven PC Data Acquisition Work Stations for work in analytical chemistry

Twelve Labworks interfaces (with a variety of probes)

Mudd Hall ITS supported computer room:
- Eight PC Work Stations
- One Macintosh computer

Two PC Work Station for use in the Organic Chemistry Lab

PC Data Acquisition Work Station for the Laser Teaching Facility