WPL 2.11 Instrumentation Chemistry laboratory
Overview
The second of our two large chemistry laboratories contains seven fume cupboards positioned around the perimeter of the room, leaving the central floor space for laboratory benches to facilitate a range of different experiments, primarily in physical and analytical chemistry.
Designed to develop our students’ practical skills alongside their theoretical course, there has been continuous investment in the most up-to-date equipment keeping pace with industry labs, and the development of new experiments/projects in line with the chemistry research trends.
What we teach
These labs are primarily used for the teaching of courses in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Foundation, and Natural Sciences.
The lab teaches the basic principles of physical and analytical chemistry, then applies these principles in different experiments using real world examples. The lab teaches students from foundation years through to masters.
What you learn
The labs’ purpose is to give students the skills and experience they need to work in an industrial lab, as well as developing softer transferrable skills, e.g., teamwork, project management and critical analysis, for those who see a future outside of a lab environment.
Example of a second-year experiment: testing the caffeine content in tea bags, comparing PG, decaffeinated, and green tea bags. This is achieved through extraction liquid extraction and then quantification on the HPLC.
Example of a third-year extended project: developing a method of extraction and quantification of pesticides from fruit juices, using liquid-liquid extraction, solid phase extraction and quantification a GC-FID.
Equipment
Equipment in these laboratories includes:
- High Performance Liquid Chromatography (LC)
- Gas Chromatography (GC)
- GC-Mass Spectrometry (MS)
- LC-MS
- Microwave Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometry (MP-AES)
- Uv-VIS spectroscopy
- Fluorimetry
