The use of a Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectrometer with Data Station has recently been integrated into the undergraduate chemistry curriculum of the Chemistry Department at Arkansas College. The instrument is used in Instrumental Chemistry to teach instrumental operation, techniques of sample preparation, and Fourier Transform principles together with spectral interpretation and structure identification. In several courses in organic chemistry, the FTIR is used to characterize products, to indicate product purity, to elucidate structures and determine unknowns. Its uses in Physical Chemistry include the study of vibrational and rotational spectra and the investigation of isotope effects.
