MRI-R2: Acquistion of modern high-performance liquid chromatography instrumentation for research and education at IUP

Indiana University Of Pennsylvania Research Institute, Indiana PA

Investigators

Abstract

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). With this award from the Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program Professor John C. Ford and colleague Jaeju Ko from Indiana University of Pennsylvania will acquire a high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) instrument equipped with an automatic injector and pulsed amperometric detectors. The instrument will be used to support research activities such as kinetic studies of celluloses and cyclodrextrins as well as surface chemistry of diamond. Results of these studies will be also be used in computational studies of enzyme active-sites. An HPLC system will allow separation of mixtures of substances into individual components to facilitate their study by analyzing the characteristic traces provided by the interaction of such substances. The technique employs liquid samples which are run through separation columns at high pressure. This research will have a significant impact in a number of areas, especially organic chemistry, materials chemistry and biochemistry. This instrument will be an integral part of teaching as well as research.