• Question: What kind of experiments would you do at your lab?

    Asked by anon-39759 to Sean on 8 Nov 2022.
    • Photo: Sean O'Halloran

      Sean O'Halloran answered on 8 Nov 2022:


      Well my first 3 years were all based on Organic chemistry (making new molecules which are primarily carbon based) but then this year I spend a lot of time on analysis. My experiments deal with how my molecules work in solution and I use Ultra-violet/visible light spectroscopy (how my molecules absorb different wavelengths of light) and can tell me how my molecules interact with the target molecule of my research. I also run nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. It’s essentially MRI for a molecule and can tell me how many hydrogen atoms are in my molecule and lets me determine if what I tried to make is actually the thing I got out at the end!
      I also work with electron microscopy (super high magnification microscopy) for checking my 3D printed materials to see if they’re clean!

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