Chemistry Laboratory

Chemistry labs consist of two undergraduate laboratories serving I, II and III year students of B.Sc. Physical Sciences. The laboratories are equipped with state of the art instruments and apparatus for high quality lab training. The students get hands on training on these sophisticated equipment and thus acquire a better and up to date understanding of latest instrumentation methods and principles.

Undergraduate classes are conducted in separate laboratories viz. Chemistry Wet Lab, Instrument Lab and Weighing Balance room.

CHEMISTRY WET LAB

The laboratory is dedicated to Organic and Inorganic synthesis and analysis.

Facilities

1. Hot air oven (Temp. range – Ambient to 250°C)- for routine drying of compounds and apparatus
2. Temperature Controlled Waterbath (Double walled)- for routine heating of volatile and flammable solvents
3. Centrifuge Machines – used for routine laboratory works including quick spin to handle fine and small quantities of precipitates in quantitative analysis
4. Double stage water distillation unit (output: 4L of per hour; conductivity < 1 μS; pH = 6.0-7.0)- used for all routine experiments
5. Digital Melting point apparatus microprocessor controlled (Stanford research systems) - range: Ambient to 400°C – used to determine melting points and mixed melting points with accuracy of upto 0.1°C
6. Rotavaporator (Fischer Scientific) – for solvent evaporation and sample concentration; purification of solvents for re-cyclization
7. Bottle dispensers with variable volumes (Microlit) – for safe handling of corrosive chemical substances, concentrated acids etc
8. Heating mantles (variable capacity) – for experiments involving refluxing and distillation
9. Magnetic stirrers with temperature controlled hot plate – for routine experiments involving stirring and heating at a constant rate
10. Multispin stirrers (Tarsons)with stirring speed 1200 rpm with four stirring positions
11. Vacuum pump (oil based)- for routine vacuum filtration
12. Semi-micro kits for qualitative inorganic semi micro analysis analysis
13. Fume Hoods (LabQuip) – Safety is of prime importance to us! Fume hoods with its powerful ventilation mechanism ensures a minimum exposure to hazardous or toxic vapours or dusts in the laboratory.

INSTRUMENT LABORATORY/ CHEMISTRY DRY LABORATORY

The laboratory is dedicated to Physical, Analytical and Instrumentation Chemistry experiments.

Facilities

1. Microprocessor based Double Beam UV-Vis Spectrophotometer (Wensar) - equipped with double blazed grating, double monochromator design, the instrument provides a high energy throughput optical system with ultra low stray light for precise measurement of absorbance. Used for quantitative analysis, reaction kinectics and other applications
2. Digital Conductivity Meter microprocessor controlled with resolution of 0.1 μS/cm - used for conductometric titrations and analysis
3. Digital pH Meter with combination electrodes (Systronics) with pH range of 0 -14 units and resolution of 0.01 pH units – used pH and potentiometric titrations; routine pH and EMF measurements
4. Colourimeters - used for absorbance measurements in colourimetry; for experiments related to Lambert Beer's Law and for Job's Plot
5. Paper Electrophoresis apparatus - used fpr separation and identification of amino acids, peptides and proteins
6. Flame photometer with filters for Na, K, Li and Ca and with auto ignition (Systronics) - used for detection of the said metals in trace amounts in any given liquid sample in ppm
7. Muffle Furnance (maximum temperature 1000°C) – used for high temperature solid state reactions

BALANCE ROOM

Balance room is dedicated to analytical and precision weighing for quantitative analysis as well as other routine works

Facilities

1. Electronic Top Loading Balance with 4 decimal accuracy - with internal standard (Saratorius) for weighing accuracy of up to 0.1mg
2. Electronic Top Loading Balance with 3 decimal accuracy - with internal standard (Saratorius) for weighing accuracy of up to 1mg
3. Electronic Top Loading Balance with 4 decimal accuracy - with external standard (Wensor) for weighing accuracy of up to 0.1mg
4. Electronic Top Loading Balance with 3 decimal accuracy - with external standard (Wensor) for weighing accuracy of up to 1mg
5. Ultraviolet lamp box with long as well as short wave ultraviolet lamps – for chromatographic detection

Good Practices in Chemistry Laboratories

Chemical contamination and waste management is big environmental hazard. The students are well trained to follow proper disposal of hazardous chemicals before they begin with their routine experiments. General instructions about lab safety and various first aid measures are displayed in the form of charts inside the laboratory and the students are impelled to follow these instructions for maintaining a safe working environment. It is mandatory for all the students to wear protective clothing and gloves while working in chemistry wet laboratory.

There are separate disposal bottles where acids, alkalies and organic solvents are collected after use instead of throwing them in sink. These waste solvents are either reused after purification or used for cleaning of glass apparatus/ hard surfaces for tough stains.

Any hazardous material used in the laboratory such as sodium metal, mercury, bromine etc. are properly treated into a non-hazardous form before its disposal into environment.

Wherever possible, a simulated demonstration of the experiment is shown to students via smart classes to ensure a thorough understanding of the experimental procedure without wasting any chemicals. The use of simulations for demonstration has proved to be a much better way of saving on chemicals and minimizing the wastage!

Students Achievements

The results of students of chemistry have been excellent over the past years. Ms. Manjari, Ms. Uma and Mr. Anuj students of BSc. Physical Science III year have secured 100 % marks in Chemistry in year 2015. Mr. Gaurav, BSc. Physical Science II year secured O grade in the year 2017.

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