Work Station Layout and Capabilities

The Arduengo group at Alabama is bilingual (English-German) and occupies new research facilities in Shelby Hall on the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa campus. The design of the Arduengo lab space at Alabama is a mix of industrial and academic laboratory styles; the aim of which is to capture an industrial-style research output coupled with a framework for education and academic discovery. The group utilizes 254 m² of lab space and 66 m² of office space devoted to synthetic chemistry. A typical lab workstation is outfitted with standard synthetic equipment, such as glassware, Schlenk lines, rotary evaporators, balances and chromatographic equipment. The Arduengo laboratory space also offers 12 single-worker (1.5 m) hoods, 2 5 m-hoods, 9 moisture- and oxygen-free single station glove boxes with freezers, 1 double station glove box, and 53 linear meters of bench top space. Synthetic procedures can be conducted from milligram up to 12 liter (multiple Kg) scales and a 40-liter autoclave is available in the group. Equipment is also available for gas manipulations and reactions, and a variety of photochemical equipment supports synthetic and physical photochemistry.

Collaborations with other research groups at Alabama enable the application of the Arduengo group's compounds with unusual valency to problems such as photovoltaics, nonlinear optical materials and chemical hydrogen storage. In the area of photovoltaics the collaboration with the group of Professor Shanlin Pan has been very productive and access to the Pan laboratory facilities contributes greatly to our successes in this area. The Arduengo group enjoys a long standing collaboration with Professor David A. Dixon. The modeling facilities in the Dixon group provide valuable insight into our joint efforts in Photovoltaics, nonlinear optical materials, Chemical Hydrogen Storage, Energy Research, and chemical bonding fundamentals.

The Department has access to a machine shop, a glassblower and glassblowing shop, and an electronics repair and design person. A full suite of structural characterization instrumentation is available for this project. The department provides access to three recently upgraded Bruker multi nuclear NMR spectrometers operating at 360, 500 and 600 MHz, gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer facilities (Hewlett-Packard 5985-A), two VG Autospec double focusing mass spectrometers with GC and FAB inlets, a MALDI-TOF spectrometer, FT-IR and a V-100 Laser Raman Spectrophotometer, a Cary 14 recording ultraviolet spectrometer, and a Bruker smart CCD area detector X-ray crystal diffraction system with low temperature capability. The NMR and mass spectrometry facilities are supported by PhD level facilities managers and the X-ray diffraction equipment is managed by a technician. The Science and Engineering Library is housed in a separate building within a short walk from the chemistry complex.

A variety of EPR instruments are housed in a 125 m² laboratory in Shelby Hall and include a Bruker ELEXSYS E-680 pulsed ENDOR/EPR System at W-band, a Bruker ELEXSYS E-560-D pulsed ENDOR/EPR system and an E-580 pulsed ELDOR at X-band with variable temperature from 5 K to 300K and in situ radiation via a pulsed nanosecond Nd:YAG laser. The combined system is known as an E-680 W/X. This enables us to carry out pulsed ELDOR (DEER), 1D 2- and 3-pulse ESEEM, 2D HYSCORE, inversion/saturation recovery and transient EPR experiments. Also included is a Varian E-12 EPR spectrometer with a rotating 12” magnet and X (9 GHz) and Q (35 GHz) microwave bridges interfaced to a EWWIN32 data acquisition program (PIDAM interface) and a variable temperature attachments to carry out in situ EPR photolysis, an E-800 ELDOR accessory, a Bruker-ESP 300-10/7 X-band EPR spectrometer with an ESP 350-U ENDOR/TRIPLE DICE Accessory, allowing CW ENDOR measurements in the frequency range from 0.3 to 35 MHz, an Air Products Model LT 3-110 variable temperature system (> 6K), an Oxford ESR 900 variable temperature (> 6K) for the CW ENDOR measurements, a Janis Super-Varitemp Dewar with optical tail to carry out simultaneous UV/visible irradiation and EPR studies from 1.5-600K, a Molectron pulsed nitrogen (λ = 337 nm), a Questek Model 2540 VβExcimer Laser, a 5200 B Dye Laser, a Kratos variable wavelength (200 – 700 nm) 1 kw (Hg/Xe lamp) illumination system which can be electronically modulated, (all light sources separated by laser curtains), and a Phillips X-ray unit with an attached blockhouse to carry out X-ray irradiation in any desired configuration.