The acquisition of a state-of-the-art isothermal titration microcalorimeter (ITC) will greatly enhance instruction in a number of classes by providing the students with the opportunity to experimentally determine a complete thermodynamic profile for the system under investigation in one experiment. Specifically, the ITC will provide the capability to: teach solution thermodynamics in the physical chemistry and biochemistry courses in a more meaningful way; perform exciting and relevant experiments in the laboratory programs of a number of courses; and develop undergraduate research projects which require the use of an solution microcalorimeter. A number of new experiments are proposed for courses ranging from physical chemistry to biochemistry. These include: the interaction of ribonuclease and ribonuclease derivatives with the substrate analogue CMP; the binding of carbohydrates to lectins; the interaction of metal ions with tetracycline; the determination of the Km for ?-galactosidase and the KI a number of inhibitors of (-galactosidase; and the binding of cyanide and azide to metmyoglobin. The use of the ITC will expose undergraduate students to these important areas of chemistry and biochemistry which is not possible to do effectively with the present equipment.
