The recent acquisition of a photodiode array ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometer is being used in the teaching of chemical principles and laboratory techniques to chemistry majors, other science majors and/or premedical students, and non-science majors at Davidson College. The speed of the instrument allows complete spectra to be acquired within seconds, displayed on a monitor, stored on disk, mathematically manipulated, and printed. The instrument is being used for kinetic experiments that require absorption values at more than one wavelength to be measured simultaneously. It also serves as a detector for high performance liquid chromatography, thus introducing students to principles of chromatography-spectrophotometry. Chemistry majors study the principles of operation of this computer-controlled instrument, with emphasis on concepts of digital electronics, instrument control, data file structures, and data transfer operations. The instrument is also used in student research projects involving organic photochemical reactions, the characterization of transition metal complexes, and investigation of the function of proteins.
