Organic chemistry deals with the study of composition properties, reactions, preparation, and structure of those compounds that contain carbon. Therefore the need for equipment in the labs of organic chemistry brings the practicality which is required to carry out the reactions and make the observations for a particular reaction or process. Different equipment is used in the organic chemistry laboratory and below are the 20 most important organic chemistry lab equipment.
This is an analysis tool that is used to study the electrical effect. X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy is carried out with the help of this tool. With the help of this tool, the composition and the chemical bonding can be studies of any material or surface. It helps to identify the elements found in metals organic materials, and powders.
Glassware is mostly used for microscale work. The glassware is the drying tube, the Hickman head, water condenser, air condenser, air condenser, spin vane, and claisen adapter for organic chemistry. The purpose of using glassware is distillation, reflux, and other organic chemistry laboratory procedure. Because of the ground glass joints incorporated into each piece of glassware, they are used for carrying out Taper glassware is more costly than common glassware like beakers and Erlenmeyer flasks.
The equipment used in the organic lab chemistry is segmented for the reason that the apparatus can be fastened with other equipment in different ways and also the vapors don’t get escaped from the apparatus. There is a variety of clamps that has a different purpose. The two major types of clamps are extension clamps and three-fingered clamps. These clamps are used to hold apparatus and join them with one another.
In order to determine the identity of crystalline solids or minerals on the basis of their atomic structure, X-ray Diffraction is used. The reason for diffraction occurrence is the difference of wavelengths of X-rays which are of few angstroms which are roughly the same as interatomic distances in crystalline solids.
In the organic chemistry lab equipment, the microscopes are of immense importance and JSPM-400 is a powerful microscope that is used or set up as an Atomic Force Microscope or Scanning tunneling microscope. Also, some standard AFM modules comprise contact, friction force microscopy, current image, and non-contact AFM. The main specifications of the microscope are that there is a vacuum and the specimen can be locked inside. Moreover, there is a 25 mm scanner inside it.
Two Fournier-Transform Infrared spectrometers are equipped In the Organic Chemistry Lab Equipment. Both of the spectrometers are Bruke Tensor 27. They are used for chemical analysis. The microscope is equipped with a 15X IR objective as well as a 15X GIR objective. The software and/or a joystick control the stage's XY position.
To carry out the process of mass analysis, the EXACTIVE MS Detector is used. The technology used in this detector is Orbitrap. Moreover, the main characteristics of this high-resolution detector are it has positive and negative ion polarity modes, the accuracy of mass can be obtained in sub-ppm and its high resolution of up to 100.000 FWMH.
As the name suggests, pipettes are used for transferring the liquid to another glassware. They have the rubber at one end and they are mostly used to draw water from the small neck bottles. In organic chemistry, the pipettes are used to carry out and test the liquids while experimenting with different chemical reactions. Droppers are very much clear by their name. Droppers are used when the required amount of liquid has to be very limited and accurate. It is also necessary because if the amount of liquid changes in any way i.e. increases or decreases the process and experiment can go in vain and that could lead to further delay of the process,reaction, etc. Droppers lessen the measurement mistakes and make it easier to add the liquid bit by bit. These two are important for carrying out the organic chemistry lab processes.
Tracing back to 1998 when the shift was brought into the organic chemistry labs as non-mercury thermometers were brought to the lab equipment for safety purposes. The current thermometers have a temperature range of -20° to 150° C. They are filled with a red liquid to make reading easier. Now and then, an experiment necessitates the use of a thermometer capable of reading temperatures above 150°C. Even though they are used to measure temperature, thermometers used for tests and experiments are not household products.
In the field of organic chemistry, it is an analytic technique that is used to separate the chemical components and they could be either organic molecules or organic gases. Once they are detected, the next process is to know about their presence. There are different detention methods that are used for this process including UV, Diode Array Detection, Fluorescent detection. Refractive index, and Evaporative Light Scattering Detection. The use of chromatographic analysis is carried out to research different compounds with the help of any of the above-mentioned detection methods.
It is one of the types of Spectrometer. It is technologically very vast and this is the reason that it is not found in every organic chemistry lab and its equipment. It is used to analyze mass and it has relatively high sensitivity as compared to others. The main features of the LXQ Mass spectrometer are that it has can modes that are different such as MS, MS/MS, and MSn. Moreover, it can do ion mapping and full scan. Adding more to is information, in addition to direct infusion, the Surveyor Plus HPLC system with temperature-controlled sample tray (0 to 60 °C) and column oven (5 to 95 °C) allows for analyte separation prior to MS analysis with PDA detection from 190 to 800 nm.
Laboratory Scissor Jack is very necessary equipment for the organic chemistry lab. It helps to lift and give support to the different glassware such as beakers, hotplates, distillation glassware, etc. The other purpose of a laboratory scissor jack is to give support and surface tabletop at a specific height. Further, it is extendable to a wide range of heights with the turn of a knob, and accessories such as support rods are also included. Another important purpose of the laboratory jack in chemical reactions is that it is used to control a chemical reaction by controlling the heat specifically in an exothermic reaction when it gets out of control.
The organic chemistry lab equipment has become highly technologically fast and improved as it is required to see the different reactions and every minor component. LP-920 Laser Flash Photolysis Spectrometer is used to study and observe the laser processes that involve the absorption and emission of the induced transient. The most important characteristics of his spectrometer are that it has a laser excitation source is a Quantel Brilliant Nd: YAG laser operating at 1064 nm. There are harmonics readily accessible to obtain excitation wavelengths of 532, 355, and 266 nm. An Opotek Inc. Rainbo Optical Parametric Oscillator is also available for obtaining excitation wavelengths ranging from 410 to 680 nm. There is an Andor iCCD camera attached inside it that is very helpful for carrying out the spectral experiments.
Heating mantles are used in the organic chemistry lab and they are fastened with the Variac. There are two different types of mantles i.e. fabric-style heating mantles and rigid style heating mantles. The benefit of the fabric-style heating mantles is that it is easily attachable and can be fitted with different types of glassware but the attachment of wires with the mantle is not a strong body and gets easily broken with a minor mishandling. For these reasons, the rigid-style heating mantle was brought. Even though they are costly but they are reliable. The main advantage of this mantle is that it can also be used as a sand bath.
In an organic chemistry lab, there are different types of stir motors. They are delicate in nature. Stir motors are mechanical devices that house a large magnet beneath a heavy, chemically resistant flat surface. An electrical motor spins the magnet. Mishandling can cause damage to stir motors. If they are dropped, especially on their side, the shaft that controls the magnet can bend, causing the stir motor to stop spinning. Water must be kept away from them because it will corrode the electrical circuitry. The cords are prone to damage; avoid dropping chemicals on them and keep them away from hot surfaces.
Stirring hotplates are one of the most important lab devices that come with a heavy and large magnet that is placed beneath the chemical-resistant flat surface. There is an electric motor attached to it that spins the magnet. The electric motor is attached to a hotplate that serves to provide heat to the solvent or a reaction mixture at a required temperature. In some organic labs, this unit substitutes the pairing of a stirring motor, a Variac, and a heating mantle. An aluminum heating block can be positioned on top of the device to accommodate round-bottom flasks and equitably heat them.
In an organic chemistry lab, variacs are the transformers that are used to control the supply of electricity. As the heating mantles and stirring hotplates have been mentioned above and they work with the electricity, therefore, variacs are always attached with them and it is not recommended to use the electrical equipment without variacs. Variacs are heavy in weight and they must be handled carefully.
Tubing is another important piece of equipment in the organic chemistry lab. There are two types of tubing that are Tygon tubing and vacuum tubing. Tygon tubing is a flexible type of tubing whereas vacuum tubing is rather rigid and thick-walled. The purpose of the flexible tubing is to supply the water to and from the condensers. Whereas the vacuum tubing is used to create the vacuum by connecting the source of vacuum with the side-arm flask or for setting up a vacuum distillation. An important caution is that never attach Tygon tubing with the vacuum source as it will collapse under low pressure.
The MPF3D's closed-loop XY-stage of 100 microns permits for AFM imaging as well as accurate sample positioning. All standard AFM techniques are accessible via the IgorPro user interface, which is open to custom routines. The specifications of this microscope are that it images in ambient liquids and air. Moreover, the scanner it has is a 100 mm closed-loop flexure scanner.
Because of the lack of ground-glass joints, this glassware is significantly less expensive unlike reaction glassware (the separatory funnel is an exception). It is typically used for measuring, storing, and working up the reaction rather than performing it. The bench glassware includes a beaker, side-arm, flasks, graduated cylinder, separatory funnel, vial, stir rod, crystallizing dish, and many other types of equipment as well.
Organic lab chemistry equipment involves a wide range of devices either technical and mechanical that are required to carry out the processes. These devices and equipment have further types that are used for different purposes. Also, the organic chemistry lab will have different equipment according to the need and level of a particular institution and this is an important point to be considered. All the above-listed equipment must be handled very carefully as it is a very meticulous task and must be given attention. The wires of the electrical equipment should be handled very carefully while plugging in and plugging off as they can be damaged otherwise by mishandling.
References
https://www.wur.nl/en/Research-Results/Chair-groups/Agrotechnology-and-Food-Sciences/Laboratory-of-Organic-Chemistry/Equipment.htm
https://www.cnlabglassware.com/more-than-20-common-laboratory-apparatus-their-uses.html
https://www.wur.nl/en/Research-Results/Chair-groups/Agrotechnology-and-Food-Sciences/Laboratory-of-Organic-Chemistry/Equipment/The-Edinburgh-Instruments-FLS900-Fluorescence-spectrometer.htm
https://www.orgchemboulder.com/Technique/Equipment/Communityequip/Variac.shtml
https://www.orgchemboulder.com/Technique/Equipment/Communityequip/Heatingmantle.shtml
https://www.fishersci.com/us/en/browse/90184195/laboratory-jacks
https://orgchemboulder.com/Technique/Equipment/index.shtml#:~:text=Glassware%20used%20for%20distillation%2C%20reflux,into%20each%20piece%20of%20glassware.&text=Standard%20taper%20glassware%20is%20more,as%20beakers%20and%20erlenmeyer%20flasks.
https://www.wur.nl/en/Research-Results/Chair-groups/Agrotechnology-and-Food-Sciences/Laboratory-of-Organic-Chemistry/Equipment/MFP-3D-Atomic-Force-Microscope.htm
https://www.orgchemboulder.com/Technique/Equipment/Communityequip/Tubing.shtml
https://www.wur.nl/en/Research-Results/Chair-groups/Agrotechnology-and-Food-Sciences/Laboratory-of-Organic-Chemistry/Equipment/DESI-MS.html
https://www.orgchemboulder.com/Technique/Equipment/index.shtml
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https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Organic_Chemistry/Book%3A_Organic_Chemistry_Lab_Techniques_(Nichols)/01%3A_General_Techniques/1.02%3A_Glassware_and_Equipment/1.2C%3A_Clamping
https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Organic_Chemistry/Book%3A_Organic_Chemistry_Lab_Techniques_(Nichols)/01%3A_General_Techniques/1.02%3A_Glassware_and_Equipment/1.2A%3A_Pictures_of_Glassware_and_Equipment
