Equipment
Around the Lab
Balances
Balances are used for weighing solid reagents. 2 decimal place and 4 decimal place balances are available to use on benches around the lab.
Rotary Evaporators
Rotary evaporators are used for the removal of solvents by evaporation.
More information on rotary evaporators.
UV Lamps
Ultraviolet lamps are used for visualising TLC plates when the product and/or starting materials are UV active.
Vacuum Pumps
Vacuum pumps are used to generate a vacuum line to the fume hoods, which can be used for vacuum filtration and other techniques.
Drying Ovens
Drying ovens are used for drying glassware. This is necessary when water is a potential contaminant or hazard in an experiment.
Chemical Ovens
Chemical ovens are used for drying samples or crystals and are set at much higher temperatures than drying ovens.
Fridges and Freezers
A fridge/freezer is located at the bottom of Lab D and is used for the storing of chemicals and samples that are thermally unstable. There is also a large -80 °C freezer used for storing dry ice.
Ultrasonic Baths (Sonicators)
Ultrasonic baths use sound waves to agitate particles in a sample. They can be used to aid dissolution in difficult to stir containers e.g. NMR tubes. They are also used for degassing of samples which are then injected into a HPLC instrument.
Water Baths
Water baths are temperature controlled for keeping reagents or reactions at set temperatures.
Oil Baths
Oil baths are glass troughs filled with oil, in teaching labs silicone oil. Silicone oil can be used for temperature ranges from 25°C to 250°C. Oil baths allow for more even heating than a heating block.
Isomantles
Isomantles are used to heat reactions without the need for a heating block, as the heating element is in direct contact with the flask. This can be easier for large volume reactions.
Ice Machines
Ice is used in ice baths to cool down reactions. There are 3 ice machines located around the lab with containers for ice found near the machines.
Dry Ice
Dry ice is solid carbon dioxide. It sublimes at -78.5 °C, making an effective coolant and can be used in solvent baths to cool reactions. It is stored in the lab -80 °C freezer.
Liquid Nitrogen
Liquid nitrogen is used to create cooling baths at temperatures lower than is possible with dry ice. It is stored in the lab in dewars when needed for an experiment.