Priestley Lab Virtual Tour

Welcome to the Joseph Priestley Laboratory! This is where you will do all of your synthetic chemistry as well as analytical components, in a lab designed to give you the opportunity to perform practical work in an industry-standard environment.

Welcome to the Joseph Priestley Laboratory! This is where you will do all of your synthetic chemistry as well as analytical components, in a lab designed to give you the opportunity to perform practical work in an industry-standard environment.

STUDENT WORKBAYS

CENTRAL AREA

WORKBAY B

WORKBAY A

Map View

- needle valves- manometer

Fume CupboardPriestley lab has a total of 64 fume cupboards. Students are assigned a fume cupboard, shared with another student, at the start of the academic year where they will do all their practical work.

Mercury Manometers In each fume cupboard the level of vacuum is read off of a mercury manometer, measured in milimeters of mercury (mmHg) - the lower the mercury drops in the manometer, the higher the strngth of the vacuum. The vacuum pump must first be switched on (you will hear the pump starting), and the vaccuum line taps switched to the correct positions to allow air through, or to block air off.

WATCH AS THE LEVEL OF MERCURY DROPS IN THE MANOMETER - THE STRENGTH OF THE VACUUM IS MEASURED IN mmHG AS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE POOL AT THE BASE, AND THE LEVEL OF MERCURY IN THE MANOMETER

* THE LOWER THE LEVEL OF MERCURY, THE HIGHER THE STRENGTH OF VACUUM

VACUUM PUMP SWITCHES ARE LABELLED ON THE FRONT OF EACH FUME CUPBAORD

add close up of dial and bubbler

Nitrogen Valves Along the bottom of each fume cupboard are a set of dials, the larger white plastic dial labelled N2 controls the nitrogen input to the nitrogen lines. First, the clip at the back of the dial must be turned from the "Off" position to the "On" position, and once this is on, the nitrogen input can be controlled by turning the main body of this dial - watch as the bubbles show in the tank in the fume cupboard. Note: more bubbles does not mean more nitrogen! Bubbles appear when N2 is in excess, therefore more bubbles indicate more N2 is being wasted!

OFF

ON

WATCH HOW THE BUBBLER CHANGES AS THE DIAL IS TURNED

WHEN BLUE CLIP POINTS UP, N2 SUPPLY IS ON

N2 CONTROL VALVE

General Reagants Cupboard Each bay has its own general reagants cupboard, containing:

• Anti-bumping granules
• Acetic Acid
• Ammonium Chloride
• Brine
• Calcium Chloride
• Celite
• Charcoal
• Hydrochloric Acid
• Iodine
• Magnesium Sulphate
• Phosphoric Acid
• Potassium Carbonate
• Sand
• Silica Gel
• Sodium Acetate
• Sodium Borohydride
• Sodium Bicarbonate
• Sodium Carbonate
• Sodium Chloride
• Sodium Hydroxide
• Sulphuric Acid

West Wing Analytical Tools Priestley lab is equipped with several analytcial tools, including magnetic susceptibility balances, a UV-Vis Spectrophotometer, and Infrared Spectroscopy Meters

STORES

SILICA WASTE

West Wing Analytical Tools

Infrared Spectrometer

West Wing Analytical Tools

PEAK PICKING

SEARCH LIBRARY

Infrared Spectrometer

QUICK PRINT

• First, clean the IR diamond with DCM and tissue
• Select "BACKGROUND SINGLE CHANNEL" - this will run 16 background scans
• Select "SAMPLE SINGLE CHANNEL" - this will scan your sample 16 times
• Your spectra will be displayed on the screen - you can rescale it by selecting "SHOW EVERYTHING"
• Select "PEAK PICKING"
• Select "SEARCH LIBRARY"
• Select "QUICK PRINT"

BACKGROUND

SAMPLE

PLACE SAMPLE HERE

Student Workbay B

Priestley lab can hold a maximum capacity of 120 students at one time! Students are allocated a fume cupboard to do all their practical work in, as well as benchtop space, and their own drawer of glassware

Solvent Cupboards Here you will find the common solvents you require for lab work. If any become empty, return them to the lab stores to replace with a full one.

Sink Areas

Student Workbay A

Priestley lab can hold a maximum capacity of 120 students at one time! Students are allocated a fume cupboard to do all their practical work in, as well as benchtop space, and their own drawer of glassware

Rotavap and Chiller

Rotavap Tutorial

RUN

TAP

A step-by-step guide to using the Rotavap

• Attach the flask to the rotavap; ensure the vacuum is holding the flask on before you let go or you may lose your product!

• On the monitor, select "SETUP" and ensure the Torr is set to 24 T

• Select "RUN" to start the vacuum

• The Rotavap will stop automatically when all the solvent has evaporated, alternatively you can stop the Rotavap at any time by selecting "STOP"

• To remove the flask carefully release the vaccuum by opening the tap, then slowly pull your flask from the Rotavap

STOP

ROTATION DIAL

SETUP

ATTACH FL ASK HERE

Blue Boxes On each workbench are a number of blue boxes containing additional equipment you may need for your experiments. This includes:

• Clamps
• Bosses
• Retort Rings
• Cork Rings
• Water tubing
• Deionised water bottles
• Ice bowls

Supplies Trays

Student Glassware Drawers Students in 2nd and 3rd Year are assigned their own set of drawers, complete with all the glassware they will need for their experiements for the year. It is the students responsibility to keep their drawers tidy and glassware clean to ensure their reactions have no impurities!

Student Drawers

- ice bowls - balance bubble?

West Wing - Central

ANALYTICAL TOOLS

STUDENT WORKBAYS

Silica Waste Cupboard

Here is where you should leave any azide waste and silica columns from column chromatography after they have been ran - leave the columns with the tap open for technicians to empty and clean

Supplies CupboardIn the central area of each wing is a cupboard containg supplies to refill the window trays with, and additional pieces of equipment:

• Heating mantles

• Samples Tubes and Lids
• Pasteur Pipettes
• Syringe Neeedles (in a range of sizes)
• Syringes (in a range of sizes)
• Gloves (small, medium, large)
• Long pipettes
• Gravity Filter Paper
• HPLC Vials and Lids
• Cotton Wool
• DrySyn Blocks (in a range of sizes)
• Retort Rings
• Water Vacuum Pumps
• Microbunsen Burners

Priestley Laboratory Stores This is where you will find the technical team! You can come to stores if you need to replace broken or lost glassware, help with using analytical instruments, equipment, or help with the experiment you are doing. This is also where you will submit your samples for NMR and HPLC, and can replace any empty general reagent or solvent bottles.

WEST WING

EAST WING

Who's who? The lab coats worn in Priestley lab are colour-coded for health and safety reasons. Each student recieves their own white lab coat at the start of the year, along with their own name badge to wear on the front of their lab coat.

East Wing - Aisle

ANALYTICAL TOOLS

STORES

STUDENT WORKBAYS

East Wing - Aisle

WASTE DISPOSAL

WORKBAY A

WORKBAY B

East Wing Analytical Tools Priestley lab is equipped with several analytcial tools, including magnetic susceptibility balances, a UV-Vis Spectrophotometer, and Infrared Spectroscopy Meters

GAS CHROMATOGRAPH

Microscope Tutorial The sample viewd under the microscope is Acetyl Ferrocene, made in Priestley Lab by one of our 3rd year students

- videos for tlc, mpt

Bunsen Burners

- videos for tlc, mpt

Making TLC Applicators Tutorial

Bunsen Burners

CAUTION: Before using the Bunsen Burner, remove gloves, make sure long hair is tied back, and sleeves are out of the way of the flame! To light the burner, turn the gas tap anti-clockwise, and light using the flint-lighter When you are finished using the burner make sure the gas is turned off and the flame is out Click Here to watch again from a side angle

A step-by-step guide to making TLC Applicators

• Take a capillary tube and hold it lengthways over the flame, aiming to hold it centrally over the "inner blue cone" in the flame

• Rotate the tube between your thumb and forefinger to evenly melt the glass

• The glass will melt within 10 seconds, once the middle is melted lift the tube up from the flame in a smooth motion and stretch out

THIS IS THE HOTTEST PART OF THE FLAME

- videos for tlc, mpt

Gas Chromotography

Supplies CupboardIn the central area of each wing is a cupboard containg supplies to refill the window trays with, and additional pieces of equipment:

• Heating mantles

• Samples Tubes and Lids
• Pasteur Pipettes
• Syringe Neeedles (in a range of sizes)
• Syringes (in a range of sizes)
• Gloves (small, medium, large)
• Long pipettes
• Gravity Filter Paper
• HPLC Vials and Lids
• Cotton Wool
• DrySyn Blocks (in a range of sizes)
• Retort Rings
• Water Vacuum Pumps
• Microbunsen Burners

Deionised Water Tank This is where you can fill up the deionised water bottles (white cap) found in the blue boxes. Water is dispensed from the tap at the base over the sink

Student Workbay B

Priestley lab can hold a maximum capacity of 120 students at one time! Students are allocated a fume cupboard to do all their practical work in, as well as benchtop space, and their own drawer of glassware

Student Workbay A

Priestley lab can hold a maximum capacity of 120 students at one time! Students are allocated a fume cupboard to do all their practical work in, as well as benchtop space, and their own drawer of glassware

Waste Disposal

Solvent Waste Disposal Halogenated and Non-halogenated waste must be disposed of seperately; there are two seperate drums at the end of EACH wing for solvent waste. If these are full, report it to the technical staff.