9451789 Zielinski Three modern laser experiments with complementing computational chemistry components are being incorporated into the physical chemistry laboratory courses. A nitrogen pumped dye laser and boxcar gate setup is being used to study the atomic spectroscopy of Ne or Ar. The same laser system is being used to study the photochemistry of Ru(II) diimine complexes where short time-scale (10 - 100 ns) measurements of luminescent lifetimes are being used to analyze the collision induced energy transfer between excited metal complexes and organic quenchers. The nitrogen laser is being used with gated integration to implement an introductory Raman spectroscopy study of CCI4, C2H50H, or C6H6. These experiments use a versatile computer interface and a departmental PC to control scanning, acquisition and manipulation of data, and subsequent plotting of results. This is exposing our majors to modern optics and computer based data acquisition techniques in a non-black box learning situation. An IBM RS6000 computer workstation is being used to implement the theoretical complement to each experiment. Spartan v3.0 software is providing a convenient and easy interface for students to compute and visualize molecular orbitals and molecular structures. The theoretical studies are intimately integrated into the spectroscopy experiments using the lasers and the departmental FTIR and UV-VIS instruments. The full integration of the three components, spectroscopy experiments, theoretical chemistry, and molecular modeling, is essential for the modernization of physical chemistry laboratory. Methods for implementation of these integrated experiments would be of major interest to other undergraduate institutions seeking to sustain student interest in physical chemistry.
