On Wednesday 7th June, the LVI chemists visited the fascinating spectroscopy labs at the University of Bath.  Firstly, they were divided into small groups and then visited three different labs to see how samples of aspirin could be analysed.

Infra-red spectroscopy helps to identify which functional groups a molecule contains, whilst mass spectrometry informs you of the total atoms in the molecule as well as the mass of any fragments produced as the molecule is ionised. Both those topics are part of the LVI Chemistry course. 

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is a more complicated topic which gives detailed information about the structure of a molecule.  We normally cover this topic in the UVI, and one class had received a short introductory lesson on NMR the previous day. 

I was most impressed that the students were able to confidently answer various questions posed by the laboratory technicians.  In the final session, the students were given spectra of unknown molecules and used their knowledge to deduce their structure.

We hope to return to the University of Bath and use their labs to complete organic synthesis work with the UVI next year.

Mrs Carol Wilson
Head of Chemistry