AASU Acquires Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectometer

Savannah, GA— Armstrong Atlantic State University's Department of Chemistry and Physics has acquired a high field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer thanks to a $91,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. The NMR will be used in organic and inorganic chemistry, instrumental analysis, honors general chemistry, and several upper-level chemistry courses.

The new equipment, similar to an MRI in medical settings, is used in teaching and research laboratories to determine the structure of molecules. Valued at $215,000, the equipment will allow a number of the current laboratory experiments to be more educational and informative to students. It also will make it possible for the chemistry department to introduce a number of new experiments to the curriculum.

"In all laboratory courses we strive to expose the students to modern instrumentation as early and as frequently as possible," said Richard Wallace, head of AASU's chemistry department. "The NMR is one of the one of the most widely used pieces of scientific instrumentation in research laboratories."

The new equipment will also be used by students at Coastal Community College in Brunswick and by academically talented high school students visiting Armstrong Atlantic through its community outreach program. The advanced placement chemistry students will carry out laboratory experiments that will introduce them to the NMR.

The NMR is housed in the Science Center in a room specifically designed for the instrument . The center also provides state-of-the-art classroom and research laboratory facilites to accommodate the increasing number of chemistry majors participating in undergraduate research.

For more infromation about the spectrometer, contact Richard Wallace at 927.5304.

November 26, 2002