Our group has an exceptionally well-equipped laboratory in a new
building
(d'Iorio Hall, constructed about 8 years
ago).
We occupy four labs, one of which houses our high-pressure facilities,
GPC and CD spectrometer. All labs contain separate office and
laboratory
space, for maximum safety and comfort. Instrumentation includes:
four MBraun gloveboxes,
for synthesis and catalysis using air-sensitive organometallics. These
are equipped with miniports and low-temperature freezers or coldwells;
two (seen on arrival in summer
2003)
are equipped with a state-of-the-art, four-solvent purification system,
O2 and water analyzers, and custom "Fogg bar
rack" for ceiling storage.
inert-atmosphere MALDI mass
spectrometer,
interfaced to a glovebox. This unique assembly, custom-designed for us
by MBraun and Bruker Daltonics,
permits MW determinations on
air-sensitive
organometallics under a rigorously water- and oxygen-free atmosphere.
See Press
Release, picture, and research
page (also 2008 VIP paper in Angew.
Chem.).
Agilent gas chromatograph
with autosampler. Essential for convenient and efficient
evaluation
of catalyst activity and selectivity
Wyatt DAWN light-scattering
gel
permeation
chromatograph (LS-GPC)
for
polymer
analysis (for measuring polymer molecular weight and polydispersity:
this
gives us insight into the real "homogeneity" of our metathesis
catalysts,
and is also critical for the tissue engineering project)
Fully-equipped high-pressure
room,
with Parr
autoclaves ranging from 25 to 500 mL capacity, for catalysis
under high gas pressures. Several of these autoclaves have sampling
capabilities.
Through the University
of Ottawa Center for Catalysis Innovation and Research (of which
our
group is a core, founding member), we have access to a standalone,
state-of-the-art high pressure facility unmatched
anywhere in the country.
Electrospray mass spectrometer
(CFI
award "Design and Characterization of Novel Polymer Materials", with P.
Mayer; instrument housed in the University of Ottawa Mass Spectrometry
Center)
Glass Contour and Anhydrous Engineering solvent
purification systems (eliminates requirement for distillation of
nine
flammable solvents). The Glass Contour system is plumbed directly into
two gloveboxes.
each student has his/her own fumehood, equipped with a Schlenk
manifold
for synthesis of air-sensitive organometallic materials. Each student
or
postdoc shares a glovebox with one other user: this is where the
most
air-sensitive chemistry and catalysis is carried out.
NMR: Our group relies
heavily
on sophisticated
multinuclear NMR techniques, to monitor ligand and organometallic
synthesis,
to characterize products, and to follow catalytic transformations. The NMR
facilities in the Department are among the best in the country
(click to book time online)
A 500
MHz instrument for both liquids and solids, equipped with a
triple-resonance
31P/X/1H triple resonance probe with Z gradient. This instrument forms
part of the impressive array of equipment held within the Catalysis
Center (CFI awards 2000 and 2004), and cost Glenn
Facey
(our NMR Manager) his fingernails to install.
A Bruker Avance
300 MHz multinuclear NMR is our workhorse instrument
The NMR Facility also holds a Bruker AMX 500 with gradients and
inverse
probe, upgraded (2004) for maximum speed and sensitivity,
an autosampling 400 MHZ instrument;
part of
the Catalysis Center facility
an ASX 200 solids instrument, and two Varian Gemini 2000s (one
console
upgraded in 2000),
and while we're on the subject, one of our major assets is
"Bubbles", Dr.
Glenn
Facey,
the most helpful and knowledgeable NMR Manager I've ever met.
WHICH TO USE??? Glenn
thought you might
like to know... click here.
XRD
Powerful tools for high-throughput catalysis R&D: take a tour
of the CCRI HT
facility (homogeneous catalysis tools from Symyx)
