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Research Facilities

research in the School of Chemistry

The following is a summary of the major facilities available available to staff and students in the School. The School has a comprehensive range of smaller instrumentation located in its own laboratories on levels 1, 2, and 3 of the Chemical Sciences Building. Larger instruments are located in the Analytical Centre, which occupies the basement and ground floors of the Chemical Sciences Building. The Chemical Consulting Laboratory (part of the Analytical Centre) provides a point of contact for external organisations wishing to avail themselves of the chemical expertise in the School of Chemistry, the Analytical Centre, and other units within UNSW.

Researchers in the School of Chemistry also have access to the world-class facilities such as the OPAL reactor and Australian Synchrotron available to the scientific community in Australia.

In-house Instrumentation

Optical Spectroscopy: Cary 5 UV-VIS-NIR (including diffuse reflectance). Cary 100 UV/Vis. Cary 1E UV/Vis. PTI pulsed laser fluorescence lifetime instrument (nitrogen and dye lasers) and steady state fluorescence instruments (Perkin-Elmer LS-50B). Unicam Helios γ and Unicam 8625 single beam UV/Vis.

Vibrational Spectroscopy: Nicolet Avatar 320 (2x), Avatar 360, and Avatar 370 (2x) with ATR available. Nicolet Magna 860 mid and far-IR, with external RAIRS chamber and external Spectratech microscope.

Chemical Analysis: Varian SpectrAA 10, 50, and 220 AAS. Various GC and HPLC instruments.

Mass Spectrometry: Shimadzu GCMS-QP5000 and GCMS-5050A.

Computing: Clusters of Windows and Macintoshes are located in the graduate student office spaces and write-up areas near the synthetic laboratories, along with monochrome and colour laser printers. The School runs a fileserver (RAID, UPS, daily tape backup) which is available to staff and graduate students. Building network backbone is 4 Gb/s over fibre with mostly 100 Mb/s connections to workstations. Staff computers (desktops and laptops) are backed up regularly to tape. Document scanning, and digital still and video cameras are available to staff and students. The School has access to supercomputing facilities (AC3, APAC).

Analytical Centre Instrumentation

X-ray Diffraction: ENRAF-Nonius Turbo-CAD4 single crystal diffractometer. Philips X'Pert-MRD powder diffractometer. Philips PW1729 with high temperature attachment, Philips PW1830, X’pert Pro Multipurpose X-ray Diffraction System.

Surface Analysis: Kratos AXIS imaging XPS microprobe and Auger system. Kratos XSAM800 XPS. VG ESCALAB 220IXL imaging XPS microscope. Kratos LIMA/TOFSIMS microprobe.

Mass Spectrometry: The nearby UNSW Bioanalytical Mass Spectrometry Facililty has an extensive range of instrumentation.

NMR and EPR Spectroscopy: Bruker DMX600; Bruker DMX500 (liquids and solids probes); Varian Inova 300 (dedicated solids instrument); Bruker DPX-300 (2 instruments for multinuclear liquid samples, fitted with automated sample changers). Bruker EMX X-band (with variable temperature range from -270 to +450 K).

Chemical Analysis: Perkin Elmer OPTIMA 3000 DV ICP-AES, Varian Vista AX Simultaneous Axial ICP-AES, Perkin Elmer ELAN 6100 ICP-MS.

Electron Microscopy: The Electron Microscope Unit contains a suite of microscopes, including: Jeol 1400 TEM; Jeol 840S, Hitachi S900, Hitachi S4500, and Hitachi S3400 SEM; FEI Quanta ESEM. XTNova Nanolab 200 and FEI XP200 focused Ion Beam instruments. Digital Instruments 3000 AFM and Multimode AFM. Cameca SX50 Microprobe.

Brucker EPR

Faculty of Science Workshops

Mechanical Workshop: A fully equipped workshop with extensive precision-engineering capabilities for instrument development including precision milling, large scale turning, and various types of welding. The workshop supervisor can assist with instrument and apparatus design and development. Located in the lower ground level of the Chemical Sciences Building.

Electronic Workshop: This workshop provides printed circuit board manufacture services as well as design of pcb's for new equipment. Repairs, maintenance and trouble shooting for a wide range of electronic and electrical equipment can also be provided. Located in the lower ground level of the Chemical Sciences Building.