World-class facilities at the Faculty of Science allows students to make the most of their education.

Some of our major equipments

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

The Department of Chemistry's NMR facility currently consists of a high power, high performance Bruker DRX 300 MHz narrow bore instrument which is capable of running both solutions and solids (both static and magic angle spinning). Variable temperature facilities allow samples to be cooled to 150 K and warmed to 470 K and almost any NMR active nucleus can be studied. Our spectrometer is also fitted with the latest NMR technology such as gradient field coils which allows for the analysis of samples in WATER solvent. This novel method will enable analysis of aqueous soluble humics as well as industrial liquers from mines, smelters and other plants which previously could not be attained with NMR. The DRX instrument is driven by a Silicon Graphics Indy workstation and there are several PCs which used solely for spectral processing. These Pcs are running WIN NMR for PC or as a Unix emulator.

The staff of the Department of Chemistry's NMR facility include:

• Dr Kamali Kannagara (Acting Manager and Research Scientist, who is responsible for routine proton, carbon and multidimensional NMR experiments.
• Dr Garry Lee, who is responsible for the solid state and multinuclear NMR experiments.

Elecrospray Mass Spectrometry

Our Mass Spectrometry Unit comprises of the following:
A Jeol Mass Spectrometer (JMS - DX303); this instrument is mainly for the analysis of liquid samples. It is equipped with Fab and gives high resolutioin spectra up to 1500 amu A HP 5890 GC coupled to a 5970 Mass Selective Detector facilitates the analyses of liquid samples and is equipped with a pyrojector component for analysing solid samples. This unit is also capable of performing single ion monitoring (SIMS) and multiple ion monitoring (MIMS) spectrometry. In addition there is an extensive library and these features enable biomarker analyses to be routinely performed.

Laser Ablation Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry (LAFTICR/MS) enables the analyses of non-volatile samples and has been extensively used in our fullerene research.

In addition, Gas Chromatography Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (GCIR/MS) facilities are also available. This apparatus enables environmental problems, such asmcontamination of soils (sediments) by hydrocarbons to be addressed. In addition, it can be used for distinguishing between families of oils, bitumens etc. Completing the range of facilities in this unit is an ICP/MS for elemental and trace analyses.

• Comparison micro and chemospecs
• Microscope FTIR  spectroscopy
• FT-Raman spectrometer (Fourier Transform and Infrared an Raman)

Our equipment includes a Biorad Digilab FTS-7 Fourier transform infrared spectrometer The Raman equipment includes a DILOR XY Modular Laser Raman Spectrometer fitted with a charged-coupled detector. The exciting source is the 514.5 nm line of an Ar+ laser (Coherent Innova Model 70, continuous wave, 5W). A great variety of sampling accessories is available including a high quality microscope for Raman studies, IR diffuse reflectance and attenuated total reflectance units and variable temperature cells. Electrical, Dielectric and Magnetic Electrical, Dielectric and Magnetic Characterisation Facility

• ICP-MS & AAS
• GC-MS & Gas chromatography
• UV-Vis & FT-IR spectrometers
• HPLC / ion chromatography
• Electrochemical facility

Postgraduate & Analytical Support Facilities include:

• Honours lectures on NMR, ICP-MS, AAS, HPLC, FT-Raman
• Full range of techniques available to Faculty users
• Facilities to support extensive consulting program from industry