The Department of Chemistry is purchasing two gas chromatographs for use in analytical chemistry, organic and advanced organic chemistry, and physical chemistry laboratories. In the organic and advanced organic chemistry laboratories, the instruments are used to determine the enantiomeric excess of reaction products resulting from an enzymatic hydrolysis of a meso-diester, the composition of isomeric alkenes derived from an elimination reaction, and the ratio of products obtained from a carbocation rearrangement. Students in the physical chemistry laboratory, students are measuring the thermodynamic properties of solutes and collecting rate data from a cycloaddition reaction. Students engaged in independent study are also using the instruments.
