College of Science & Engineering

Applied Photophysics Chirascan VX

Circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy is a technique used to characterise chiral materials by measuring the differential absorption of left-handed and right-handed circularly polarised light. A monochromator produces horizontal linearly polarised light and a photoelastic modulator converts it to circularly polarised light, alternating between left- and right-handed. Notably it can provide structural information on biomolecules, such as secondary and tertiary structure of proteins, as well as conformational analysis of peptides and peptidomimetics.

Chirascan VX features:

• Wavelength range from 160 nm up to 950 nm. Typically, owing to variation of CD amplitude with wavelength, narrower ranges are used such as far-UV (ca. 160-250nm) for protein secondary structure and near-UV (250-350nm) for tertiary structure.
• Peltier temperature controller to maintain sample/sample chamber at constant temperature.
• Can also perform continuous or stepped temperature ramps with single wavelength or multiple wavelength scans to determine thermodynamic properties.
• Range of measurement cells – 10 mm stoppered cuvette and 0.5 mm stoppered cuvette with 10 mm adaptor are currently available. Cuvettes down to 0.01 mm path length can be fitted – an adaptor for thinner cuvettes is already available but the cuvettes themselves must be ordered.

Agilent 5900 ICP-OES 

Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES) allows the user to experimentally determine the concentration of known elements within a solution, by comparison to standard solutions of known concentration for each desired element.

Samples must be prepared as a liquid so that they can be aerosolised into the plasma torch chamber. Digestion in nitric acid is recommended for samples containing solids. Ideally samples should have concentrations in the range 1-100 ppm.

The following elements can be detected using the ICP-OES:

Al, As, Ag, Au, Ba, Be, Bi, B, Cd, Ca, Ce, Cs, Cr, Co, Cu, Dy, Eu, Fe, Gd, Ga, Ge, Hf, Hg, Ho, In, Ir, K, La, Li, Lu, Mg, Mn, Mo, Na, Nd, Ni, Nb, Os, Pd, P, Pt, Pr Pb, Re, Rh, Rb, Ru, Sb, Sm, Sn, Sc, Se, Si, Sr, S, Ta, Te, Tb, Tl, Th, Tm, Ti, W, U , V, Yb, Y, Zn, Zr

Agilent 5900 features:

• Single element standards are available for Al, As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn, Fe, Mn, Ca, K, Mg, Na, and V. All are at a concentration of 1000 mg/L in 5% HNO₃.
• There is a mixed wavelength calibration standard containing 5 mg/L Al, As, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, Se, Sr, Zn and 50 mg/L K in 5% HNO₃. However, it is recommended to purchase a single element standard for an element not currently available that will be used frequently.
• Sampling procedure being used can be saved as a template, if needing to collect similar data at a later date.
• Simultaneous measurement of both trace elements in an axial view and more abundant elements in a radial view.
• Autosampler, can hold up to 272 tubes for blanks, standards and samples.

BMG Labtech NEPHELOstar Plus

Analytical instrument to determine compound solubility in liquid samples by measuring forward scattered light.

Applications include:

• drug solubility determination
• flocculation assays
• bacterial and fungal growth kinetics.

Email analytical-suite@glasgow.ac.uk for online training.

This is a non-destructive chemical analysis technique which provides detailed information about chemical structure, phase and polymorphy, crystallinity and molecular interactions. It is based upon the interaction of light with the chemical bonds within a material.

LabRAM HR system, manufactured by Horiba Jobin Yvon, equipped with the following lasers:

• Ventus 532 laser system, 250mW, 532nm
• Helium Cadmium IK3201R-F, 20mW, 325nm

It uses a Synapse CCD detection system, and has the following objectives:

• 40x for UV; 10x, 50x and 100x for visible

A Linkam TS 1000 High Temperature Stage is also available.

A series of techniques that measure material properties as a function of temperature, time and atmosphere.

DSC (Differential scanning calorimetry) measures transition temperatures and heat flow.

TGA (Thermogravimetric analysis) measures weight change.

Information provided includes:

• melting point
• glass transition
• oxidizing stability
• thermal stability
• purity
• crystallinity.

Thermal analysis equipment available is listed below:

Joseph Black Building B2-25 (Research Analysis Suite)

• TA Instruments TGA 5500; temperature range ambient to 1200°C
• TA Instruments DSC 25 with RCS90 refrigerated cooling system; temperature range -90-725°C
• Gas atmospheres available: Nitrogen and Air

Joseph Black Building A4-24

• TA Instruments SDT Q600; temperature range ambient to 1200°C
• Gas atmospheres available: Argon, O2 mix, H2 mix

For further details on instrument capabilities, access and training, contact Mr Andrew Monaghan (Room no: B2-25).