Instrumentation

Research Facilities and Instrumentation

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

The major equipment available includes:

NMR

• Three multinuclear, superconducting (300, 400, and 500 MHz) FT-NMR spectrometers from JEOL

Diffraction

• 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, OXFORD Cryostream 700, and APEX2 software suite
• Bruker SMART X2S automated benchtop X-ray diffractometer equipped with a BREEZE air-cooled 4K CCD detector

Electron Paramagnetic Resonance

• Bruker EMXplus X-band Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) Spectrometer with ER 4116 (dual-mode) and double-rectangular (SuperQ) resonators

Mass Spectrometry

• API (ESI/APCI) mass spectrometer detectors (single quad, QqQ, QIT, LIT, IT-TOF)
• Multiple GC-MS/MS instrumentation

Spectroscopy

• Multiple FT-IR spectrometers (Bruker FT-IR Alpha P with Diamond ATR and transmission mode capability; Shimadzu FT-IR Prestige with NIR and Far IR kits, plus ATR)
• Jasco Raman (arriving Jan 2026)
• Numerous UV/Vis spectrophotometers (some with diode-array detection)
• UV-Vis-NIR Spectrophotometer (Shimadzu UV-3600)
• Cary 5E UV-Vis-NIR Spectrophotometer
• Hi-Tech SF-61D X2 stopped-flow UV-visible spectrophotometer
• UV-Vis plate reader (BMG LabTech Spectrostar Nano UV/Vis 96-well plate reader)
• Kratos Ultra X-ray Photoelectron Spectrometer (ESCA) with sputter gun, monochromatic (Al source), polychromatic sources (Mg and Al), and imaging capacity (currently under repair; ~25 years old)
• Jasco Circular Dichroism (CD) spectrometer with cryogenic upgrades
• Dynamic light scattering instrument with digital correlator (Brookhaven Instruments)

Chromatography

• 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

Elemental Analysis

• C,H,N elemental analyzer

Imaging / Microscopy

• Several potentiostats/galvanostats
• Optical microscopes
• Multiple centrifuges (Beckman-Coulter Avanti J-E; Thermo Scientific Sorvall RC-6 Plus; Thermo Scientific Sorvall UltraSeries WX Ultra80)
• Fluorescence microscope (Nikon Eclipse TE2000-U inverted research microscope with DIC/fluorescence and digital imaging)
• Multiple UV and visible transilluminators

Thermal Analysis

• Shimadzu DSC-60 differential scanning calorimeter (ambient to 600 °C)
• Thermogravimetric analyzer (Shimadzu TGA-51)
• TA TGA/DSC

Other

• AC impedance analyzer
• Surface tensiometer
• Vapor pressure osmometers
• Microplate reader (Fluostar Omega, BMG) for absorbance, fluorescence, and luminescence
• Johnson Matthey MSB-1 magnetic susceptibility balance
• Electrochemical analyzer
• Karl Fischer titrator
• Residual gas analyzer
• Thin-film profilometer
• Ellipsometer
• Quartz crystal microbalance
• Centrifugal vacuum concentrator

Computational Facilities

The UTA High-Performance Computation (HPC) Center currently consists of about 1,000 processor cores with more than 90 terabytes of aggregate storage. The HPC Center’s computational nodes utilize state-of-the-art technology (Intel Core i7, Nehalem) and Red Hat Enterprise Linux as the 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 Gaussian 09 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 supercomputers Stampede and Lonestar, access to high-throughput graphical workstations, and mass-storage facilities.

Miscellaneous Resources

Life Science Core Facility
DNA sequencing and additional biological/biochemical facilities

Shimadzu Center for Advanced Analytical Chemistry

The Chemistry Department at UTA maintains a Cryomech LHe18 helium plant for recycling liquid helium to support departmental magnetic resonance facilities. Within the department, there are 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 in Nedderman Hall.