Research Facilities

The Chemistry Building is a modern, seven-story (170,000 square feet) structure designed for research and advanced teaching. Graduate students are assigned to spacious offices equipped with Ethernet connections to facilitate hookup of their computers to the campus network. While much of our research equipment has been commercially obtained, construction and maintenance of specialized instruments are carried out by the students and faculty in conjunction with a staff of dedicated professionals in the electronics, glass, and machine shops. We take pride in the quality and sophistication of this instrumentation because it greatly enhances our scientific research capabilities. Specialized instrumentation and facilities employed in ongoing research programs include:
The Departmental Computing Facility consists of a VMS cluster of 14 Alpha and Vax stations along with associated peripherals linked via Ethernet to the University network and to the Internet via NYSERNet.

Specialized software is supported for mathematical analysis, plotting and data analysis, molecular modeling, and molecular graphics. Within the Chemistry Building is a shared facility designed for rapid access and analysis of massive data blocks (RAMDATA). It consists of 30 Linux Pentium computers connected via a gigabit switch to an Alpha Server 4100 that has a high-speed interface to a RAID array with 1.1 terabyte (TB) of storage and an AIT Tape Library with 3.2 TB of storage. The server is connected to the campus network via a 100 Mb switch as well as an external Internet II connection. The RAMDATA facility provides scientists studying nuclear chemistry, polymer chemistry, and X-ray diffractometry with the computing power necessary for complex analysis and the acquisition of large amounts of data, typically from experiments at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

In addition to the departmental computers, within the Chemistry Building the University Computing Center provides an additional 48 public access PCs available to all students. Graduate students have convenient access to their own private bank of fast laser printers, including a HP4500DN color laser printer.

The Stony Brook Regional MNR Center, in the Department of Chemistry, maintained by a full-time MNR spectroscopist is composed of seven superconducting two- and three-channel NMR spectrometers that are accessible 24 hours a day, any day of the year. The department’s 600 MHz NMR spectrometer was the first in New York State and is used for the structural elucidation of highly complex molecular systems, such as proteins and DNA fragments. The department has completed an improvement of the whole facility, including an upgrade of the 600 MHz instrument to a three-channel spectrometer with gradient probes and solids accessories and the purchase of a new gradient-enhanced 500 MHz spectrometer for structural studies of proteins and large organic molecules. The wide-bore 400 MHz spectrometer is primarily used for the MRI of larger in vivo samples, polarized-xenon imaging, and CP-MAS solid state NMR experiments. Graduate students have rapid access to the 300 (gradient-enhanced) and 250 MHz spectrometers for routine proton, carbon, and two-dimensional experiments, and for multinuclear experiments involving nuclei such as 19F, 31P, 23Na, 27Al, and 17O. The two solid-state NMR two- and three-channeled instruments are equipped with double and triple resonance Magic Angle Spinning probes that can spin to speeds of 25 kHz; these are used primarily to study catalysts and battery materials. Six Silicon Graphics UNIX-based computers with Biosym software serve as powerful workstations for off-line NMR processing and for molecular modeling. Most recently the University has acquired a 750 MHz NMR which is located nearby in the Center for Molecular Medicine and is available to chemists needing the higher resolution.

The Mass Spectrometer Facility, located in the Chemistry Building, is operated by the Department of Pharmacological Sciences. Trained personnel provide analyses of organic molecules by electron ionization, chemical ionization, and fast atom bombardment (FAB) mass spectrometry. High-resolution accurate mass determinations and quantitative GC/MS analyses are performed routinely. ESI is available for studying DNA and proteins. The jointly owned biophysics/chemistry MALDI Mass Spectrometer is used to analyze larger molecules such as peptides and proteins.

The X-Ray Crystallography Center has two single-crystal X-ray diffractometers, including a Bruker Smart System with a CCD detector. Many graduate students in inorganic and organic chemistry routinely determine the crystal structures of their compounds by using these facilities. High-resolution computer graphics terminals are available for displaying the structures of small molecules and proteins. Online access to the coordinates of all published structures is available from the Cambridge Crystallographic Database, which contains the results of more than 180,000 crystal structures, and the Brookhaven Protein Data Base.

Pulsed dye laser systems are used in studies extending from the far IR to the UV region. These include gigawatt YAG lasers, excimer lasers, and nitrogen lasers coupled with dye lasers used in studies of chemical reactions, multiphoton ionization, the resonance Raman effect, and energy transfer in molecular systems.

The Chemical Synthesis Center consists of a fully equipped synthetic chemistry laboratory together with the necessary equipment for the purification and analysis of the prepared compounds. Apparatus is available for syntheses on the milligram to multihundred gram scale and includes an ozonizer and a low-pressure hydrogenator. The major focus of the center is the synthesis of compounds for clients who do not wish to prepare their own molecules or do not have access to synthetic facilities.

The Chemical Education Resource Center caters to the needs of elementary, junior high, and senior high school teachers and students on Long Island. The facilities at Stony Brook may be used for the professional development of teachers and for fostering excellence in students. The activities of the Center are directed at:
• Developing chemical demonstrations
• Making equipment for demonstrations
• Practicing chemical demonstrations
• Achieving excellence in chemical demonstrations
• Developing chemical education curriculum materials
• Helping students in their research projects in chemistry
• Encouraging research in chemistry by teachers
• Making chemistry demonstration kits
for teachers and the public
• Developing and encouraging hands-on experiments for elementary, junior high, and senior high school students
• Stimulating interest in chemistry and science

The Chemistry Library, a branch of the University Libraries system, is located in our building and is open 24 hours a day to graduate students and faculty. The library houses 170 chemistry periodicals; the complete back volumes of each are held. The library also holds serials, reference works, spectroscopic collections, and both classic and new books. The Chemistry Library subscribes to 87 E-journals and a large number of databases including CrossFire, SciFinder, the Cambridge Structural Database, and the Web of Science. Within the Chemistry Library are six public computers that can be used to access various online services. In addition to the Chemistry Library, other specialized libraries on the West and East campuses of interest to chemistry students in interdisciplinary areas include Math/Physics, Computer Science, Marine Sciences, and Health Sciences. The Frank Melville Jr. University Library houses the Biology, Geosciences, and Engineering collections. University library holdings consist of two million bound volumes and four million microforms.

Machine, Glass, and Electronics Shops in the Department of Chemistry provide valuable research support for projects requiring design and fabrication services. Our glass shop is one of the nation’s finest and is capable of fabricating state-of-the-art apparatus from glass and quartz. The machine shop has an array of lathes, milling machines, and other general-purpose shop equipment that enable the staff to fabricate complex and special apparatus in the small to medium-size range. The electronics shop provides repair services for instrumentation and assistance in the design of specialized electronic circuitry and the utilization of computers in data acquisition and analysis.

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