The project will acquaint undergraduate chemistry students at Muhlenberg College with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and its uses and limitations in chemical analysis. Several HPLC instruments will be available so that small groups of students can work on chemical separation problems without interruption. The problems assigned will be selected from the areas of clinical, forensic, and environmental chemistry: for example, the determination of phenol in wastewater, metabolites in blood, and components in over-the-counter drugs. This will give the students a balanced view of the importance of modern chromatography in the analytical laboratory, and better prepare them for graduate study or industrial work. Students will design and discuss experimental plans for their laboratory work, providing a foundation for future experimental design and work in the laboratories.
