Instrumentation

Research Facilities and Instrumentation

The Department is located in Science Hall (SH), the Baker Chemistry Research Building (CRB) and the new Chemistry and Physics Building (CPB). We are well equipped to perform top-level research in all traditional and interdisciplinary chemistry-based fields.

In addition to the major research instrumentation listed below, a large number of mass spectrometers, state-of-the-art supporting peripheries (e.g. chromatography and sample preparation), and spectroscopic instrumentation are available for use through the The Shimadzu Center for Advanced Analytical Chemistry (http://www.uta.edu/scaac/)

The major equipment available includes:

• Three multinuclear, superconducting (300, 400, and 500 MHz) FT-NMR spectrometers
• Bruker D8 QUEST Fixed CHI X-ray diffractometer equipped with PHOTON 100 CMOS area detector, TRIUMPH monochromator, OXFORD Cryostream 700, and BRUKER APEX2 software suite
• Bruker SMART Apex II X-ray diffractometer equipped with MONOCAP glass capillary optics and OXFORD Cryostream 700 and APEX2 software suite
• Bruker SMART X2S automated bench-top X-ray diffractometer equipped with a BREEZE air-cooled 4K CCD detector
• Bruker EMXplus X-band Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) Spectrometer with ER 4116 (dual-mode) and double-rectangular (SuperQ) resonators
• Oxford ESR 900 LHe/LN2 (4-300K) and ESR 910 LHe cryostat(1.9-300K) and Oxford ITC503 EPR temperature regulator
• Active Spectrum bench top X-band EPR spectrometer
• API (ESI/APCI) mass spectrometer detectors (single quad, QqQ, QIT, LIT, IT-TOF)
• Multiple GC-MS/MS instrumentation
• MALDI-TOF-MS instruments
• Multiple FT-IR spectrometers (Bruker FT-IR Alpha P with Diamond ATR and Transition mode capability; Shimadzu FT-IR Prestige with NIR and Far IR Kits, plus ATR capacity)
• Analytical and preparative HPLC instruments
• Capillary electrophoresis (CE) instruments
• UV/vis, fluorescence, chiral, and MS detectors for CE and HPLC
• Numerous gas chromatographs
• Bio-Rad FTS-40 GC-FTIR Spectrometer with HP 5890 GC
• Three fast protein LCs (FPLC)
• Multiple SDS PAGE and Agarose electrophoresis systems
• HPLC-ICP-MS
• C,H,N elemental analyzer
• Several potentiostat/galvanostats
• Optical microscopes
• Multiple centrifuges [Beckman-Coulter Avanti J-ECentrifuge (Rotors: JLA-10.5, JA-20); Thermo-Scientific Sorval RC-6 Plus Centrifuge (Rotors: F95-4x-1000Y, 114-6x-250y, F13-14x-30y); Thermo Scientific Sorval UltraSeries WX Ultra80]
• Shimadzu DSC-60 Differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) ambient to 600 ºC
• Perkin Elmer Diamond Differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) low temp (-180 ºC to 200 ºC) LN2 cooled.
• Thermogravimetric analyzer (Shimadzu TGA-51)
• Several vacuum atmospheres dry boxes
• Liquid helium cryostat for conductivity measurements
• AC impedance analyzer
• Surface tensiometer
• Two vapor pressure osmometers
• Horiba Jobin Yvon LabRAM Aramin Raman spectrometer with 633 nm HeNe laser and 473 nm DPSS laser
• Veeco Multimode V SPM with contact and tapping mode Atomic Force Microscope (AFM)
• Numerous UV/vis spectrophotometers (some with diode-array detection)
• UV-Vis-NIR Spectrophotometer (Shimadzu UV-3600)
• Cary 5E UV-Vis-NIR Spectrophotometer
• Horiba J-Y Fluoromax -3 with upgrades for Lifetime Fluorescence studies
• Lifetime Fluorimeter (PhotonTechnology International, Easylife II)
• Fluorometer Perkin Elmer SpectroFluorometer LS-55
• Jasco 710 Circular Dichroism (CD) spectrometer with cryogenic upgrades
• Dynamic light scattering instrument with digital correlator (Brookhaven Instruments)
• Hi-Tech SF-61D X2 stopped-flow UV-visible spectrophotometer
• UV-Vis Plate reader BMG LabTech Spectrostar NanoUV/Vis 96 well-Plate Reader
• Hansatech Ltd. Oxygraph (Clarke-type oxygen electrode)
• Micro plate reader (Fluostar Omega from BMG)with capabilities for absorbance, fluorescence, and luminescence detection
• Laser-induced Kerr effect apparatus
• Fluorescence microscope (Nikon EclipseTE2000-U Inverted Research Microscope with DIC/Fluorescence and Digital Imaging)
• GE Healthcare Storm840 fluorescence imager Phosphor imager
• Multiple UV and visible transilluminators
• Atomic Absorption (AA) Thermo M-series with GF95Z Graphite Furnace and Flame
• X-Ray Photoelectron Spectrometers (XPS), PHI 5300 with sputter gun and a monochromatic source
• KratosUltra X-ray Photoelectron Spectrometer (ESCA) with sputter gun, monochromatic (Al source), polychromatic sources (Mg and Al), and imaging capacity.
• Johnson Mathey MSB-1 magnetic susceptibility balance
• Electrochemical analyzer
• Karl Fischer titrator
• Residual gas analyzer
• Thin film profilometer
• Ellipsometer
• Several RF plasma reactors
• Quartz crystal microbalance
• Centrifugal vacuum concentrator

Instrumentation specific to the Biochemistry facility in CPB:

• Tissue culture facility for human cell culture (including isolated room, CO₂ incubators, microscope, and biosafety cabinets)
• New Brunswick BioFlo 110 (advanced)14L bioreactor/fermentor
• New Brunswick BioFlo/Celligen 11514L bioreactor/fermentor
• Cell and tissue storage liquid nitrogen tank
• Gel documentation system
• Multiple PCR thermocylcers (MJ Mini 48W PCR Thermocylers; 96W PCR Eppendorf Mastercycler; 25W Eppendorf PCR Mastercycler Personal)
• BioRad CFX96 Realtime PCRThermocycler
• Nanodrop UV-visible spectrophotometer for small scale DNA/RNA quantification
• Scintillation counter
• Several temperature regulated shaking incubators
• Cold and warm rooms
• Anaerobic Glove Box (Coy Type AAnaerobic Chamber)
• Multiple -80 °C freezers

Computational Facilities:

The chemistry modeling lab is equipped with 12 Windows PC's running Gaussianand GaussView. Additional Apple computers provide support for student-based research or teaching needs.

The computational chemistry group features a variety of workstations for individual tasks, including several 12-core Linux workstations and a 40-coreSGI Altix compute server with Infiniband high-speed interconnectivity. Additional Apple computer support graphics and presentation needs.

The UTA High-Performance Computation (HPC) Center currently consists of about 1,000 processor-cores with more than 90 terabytes of aggregate storage. HPC Center's computational nodes utilize state-of-the-art technology (currently IntelCore i7, Nehalem) and Red Hat Enterprise Linux as an operating environment This cluster is dedicated to computational research, and open to faculty and staff. Students get access via class accounts or via their research supervisor. The HPC Center has installed several software packages, notably for chemists this includes the Gaussian09 suite.

Being part of the UT System, faculty members have easy (non-proposal) access to resources provided by the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at UT Austin. This includes accounts on the super-computers Stampede and Lonestar, access to high-throughput graphical workstations, and mass-storage facilities.

Miscellaneous Resources:

DNA sequencing and additional biological/biochemical facilities
are available at the Life Science Core Facility

Shimadzu Center for Advanced Analytical Chemistry (http://www.uta.edu/scaac/)

The Chemistry Department at UTA maintains a Cryomech LHe18 helium plant for recycling LHe to support departmental magnetic resonance facilities.

Within the department, there is a well-equipped machine shop, two electronics shops, and a well-equipped stockroom; all maintained and run by our dedicated staff members. The University Library has over 1.1 million volumes, 87,500 of which are in the Science and Engineering Library, which is in close proximity to the department in Nedderman Hall.